A drastically weakened rabies virus has been used by scientists at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia to deliver HIV-related proteins into animals: vaccinating them against an AIDS-like disease.

Preliminary data revealed that the said vaccine (which doesn't protect against infection) prevents development of the disease.

The idea was that such rabies' vehicles, or "vectors," would help attract a strong response from the animal's immune system, though the rabies virus used cannot cause disease.

Such vectors are based on a type of rabies vaccine strain that has been used for more than 20 years in oral vaccines against rabies in wildlife in Europe.

The study was aimed at studying the safety and effectiveness of the rabies vaccine approach against HIV and related diseases.

Though the procedure was found technically possible in this study, whether the vaccine will work on larger group of animals and finally in humans remains to be seen.

Findings have been reported in the April 1, 2007 issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Find more details from the full report.