The number of HIV/AIDS cases in China could rise to 10 million by 2010, according to the United Nations, in the absence of effective countermeasures against the disease.

Three Phases of Testing Planned

China's Food and Drug Administration approved the new vaccine for testing in November, according to Xinhua. A 20-year old man was the first volunteer to receive the AIDS vaccino therapy on Saturday.

Seven others, including four women, followed. They all signed waivers and received a physical exam, says the news agency.

A total of 49 volunteers between 18 and 50 reportedly will receive the experimental vaccine. according to Chen Jie. The clinical research has three phases, he said, the first lasting 14 months. The second phase will test the immune nature and safety of the vaccine.

There have been about 35 AIDS vaccine trials on humans throughout the world, most of which are still at the first phase, says Xinhua.

Immense Technical Obstacles?

Professor Luc Montagnier, president of the World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention and co-discoverer of the AIDS virus, said Friday that scientists should develop a "therapeutic" vaccine to treat people already infected with HIV before attempting to create a preventive therapy, according to a Reuters report.

Montagnier believes there are immense technical obstacles to achieving success with a vaccine that would prevent the disease and recommends a step-by-step approach as only realistic option, according to Reuters.

"A therapeutic vaccine may take a few years," Reuters quotes him as saying to a meeting of the European Medicines Agency. "This is my prediction -- we will have a therapeutic vaccine which will be a better substitute for antiretroviral therapy. This will be very important, especially for patients in the developing world because they won't be able to afford [drug] treatment."