India's detonation of a nuclear device caused consternation in the west, but the very high number of people with AIDS could be a source of even greater concern. At a recent meeting in New Delhi, largely unnoticed, concerned officials from both the United States and India outlined some joint efforts that could offer some hope. PNS commentator Batuk Vora writes for newspapers and magazines from New York to Hong Kong. He lives in Advadam, Gajurat, India.

MUMBAI -- India is sitting atop not one but two lethal A-bombs.

One is the all-too-familiar nuclear bomb, which woke up the world last May. The other is the silent killer AIDS, lurking here in Mumbai -- and Delhi, Calcutta, and a host of other cities and towns.

While people have heard a great deal about America's keen desire to defuse India's A-bomb, this other bomb may well be giving Uncle Sam more sleepless nights, for even as the AIDS epidemic plateaus in America it could re-enter the country unless it is contained all over the globe.

At recent hush-hush meetings in New Delhi, top U.S. and Indian experts discussed a joint strategy to handle the scourge of HIV and see whether an Indian vaccine could become a real possibility. The brainstorming sessions produced an intense bond of cooperation.

World Health Organization estimates show 3 to 5 million HIV positive persons in India, which means it is likely to carry a larger burden of AIDS than any other country in the next century.

Anthony Fauci, a leading AIDS researcher and director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) said here that India should take a leadership role in the development of a vaccine.

To date, about 25 candidate vaccines have moved into clinical trials. Of these, only three have advanced into clinical testing and only one -- developed by San Francisco-based Vexgen -- has moved into large-scale human trials.

Two other advanced vaccines, developed in the West, are soon to be tested in Uganda and Thailand. India has opposed testing AIDS vaccines, citing ethical reasons for not allowing its citizens to be guinea pigs, but this policy is likely to change as India itself embarks on a project to develop a vaccine either fully on its own or in collaboration with the United States.

V.R. Prasad Rao, project director of India's National AIDS Control Organization, said "we can take advantage of learning from others' failures." Fauci favored a joint effort. He said, "The ball is now in India's court and we can plan testing in India when a new candidate vaccine comes up, which may take anywhere from three to five years."

It should be noted, however, that none of the participating countries is ready to discuss the exact nature of such a collaboration -- whether it would remain a scientist-to-scientist affair, a bilateral or multilateral initiative involving countries, or some mixture of these.

Most speakers at the conference said India was one of the few countries, besides Brazil and China, with both the scientific base and technological capability to commercially produce vaccines for strains most prevalent in developing countries.

The Indian Council for Medical Research "pledged support" of its extensive resources. This brought delighted responses from members of the American research team at the meetings -- they were "thrilled," according to Carol Heilman, deputy director of the AIDS Division of NIAID, to see that a commitment for a vaccine had come from a very high level in India.

The conference did not deal directly with the fact that AIDS infected persons find themselves ostracized and knowledge about this deadly disease is not widespread.

Indian scientists may agree to collaborate, but finally it is the government that must act, and this may prove a problem. Manju Sharma of the Department of Biotechnology said "unless India is made an equal partner, it would never allow a vaccine to be tested here."