PROMISING NEW GEL TO PREVENT HIV INFECTIONS IN WOMEN
Baku, July 21 (AZERTAC). South African researchers have made a scientific breakthrough in the fight against AIDS with a vaginal gel that significantly reduces a woman`s risk of being infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Experts say the gel could be a revolutionary prevention tool, empowering women to protect themselves against partners who refuse to use condoms.
Since the AIDS epidemic began nearly 30 years ago, scientists have been searching for a vaginal microbicide that women could use to protect them from contracting HIV.
Now South African scientists Salim and Quarraisha Abdool Karim with the Center for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), say their clinical trials on 889 South African women show great promise. USAID helped to fund their study.
"What we found in the study was that that women who were assigned to the tenofovir gel arm had 39 percent protection against getting infected compared to the placebo group," Dr. Abdool Karim said. "Those women who used the gel more than 80 percent of the time when they had sex, as we advised them to, had 54 percent protection. So that is quite a powerful effect."
Dr. Abdool Karim said the studies are proof of a concept, but that more trials are needed before the gel could come to market. But the hope is that it could be available within two to three years.
