Maybe one of our resident scientists / medical men can assist with this question...Would I be correct in presuming that a successful vaccine would lead to a antibody response? With HIV we used to test for the antibodies, if this is the case would all who take the vaccine be safe from infection but still be HIV+ in terms of test results
I think Fourth Generation screening tests are now standard. As well as looking for antibodies, it is also an antigen test which looks for a component of the virus itself. It does require a sample of venous blood though. Home testing kits are looking just for antibodies. Currently antibody tests are sufficient as the only way you can have antibodies is if you have been exposed to and contracted the virus.
Once someone has been diagnosed they will of course be repeatedly tested for viral load present in their blood stream in conjunction with antiviral treatment.
Vaccines would alter that so testing regimes would need to change but that probably would be a small price to pay if there was a successful vaccine.
I am not optimistic about vaccine success. There are two issues with HIV and vaccines. One is it constantly mutates, but more importantly despite the production of antibodies the immune system is unable to completely clear the virus from the body as it would with most other viruses (including Sars) and it becomes a chronic condition.
