A microbicide gel currently in clinical trials may be effective in thwarting the transmission of both HIV and the HSV-2 genital herpes virus, according to Australian researchers at last week’s International AIDS Society conference in Sydney. VivaGel, currently being tested in human trials in Australia, Kenya and the U.S., was found to be 85 to 100 percent effective in deactivating the viruses during tests on lab animals.
Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I think that it's OK to be angry. I am sometimes—it's natural—we are HIV positive. but I always try to not let myself stay there too long. Let yourself feel you are human. You should not beat yourself up about being angry."