Fifteen Chinese volunteers have received AIDS vaccinotherapy here Saturday and reported no ill effects after 24 hours' observation, local health official said Sunday.

This is the eighth and also the last group of 49 Chinese volunteers aged between 18 and 50 who have received the country's human trials of a new AIDS vaccine, which was first launched on March 12 this year in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

"The first 24 hours are a vital period for observation," said Chen Jie, deputy director of the Guangxi regional disease prevention and control center.

"So far, no volunteers have reported ill reactions. They have entered a relatively stable period for observation," he said.

The clinical data will be obtained in June next year after the center finishes observation of all volunteers, which will offer a scientific foundation for whether the center can go on with the second phase of AIDS vaccine test, he said.

The clinical research will be phased out in three parts, he said, adding the second phase will test the immune nature and safety of the vaccine.

"So far the test has been going on smoothly, and we're considering the second phase test," he said.

The State Food and Drug Administration approved the first clinical phase research of the new AIDS vaccine on Nov. 25, 2004.

As of January this year, there had been about 35 AIDS vaccine trials on humans throughout the world, most of which are still at the first phase.

The latest statistics show that China had 135,630 cases of reported HIV infection by the end of September this year, vice health minister Wang Longde said at a national tele-conference on HIV/AIDS prevention and control.

(Xinhua News Agency December 12, 2005)