Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- South African Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang stopped all trials for HIV/AIDS vaccines after a review of an aborted international trial raised safety concerns, the Star said, citing the minister.

Trials will be suspended until the government has studied the effects of the aborted experimental AIDS vaccine trial STEP, when researchers found a cold virus used in the shot may have made test subjects more likely to become HIV-positive, the Johannesburg-based newspaper said.

New Jersey-based Merck & Co. on Sept. 21 stopped trials of the experimental drug after it failed, and are trying to establish what went wrong.

South Africa won't stop participating in HIV vaccine research, the Star added. About one in nine South Africans is infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, one of the world's highest infection rates.

To contact the reporter on this story: Vernon Wessels in Johannesburg at vwessels@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 15, 2007 01:31 EST