Scientists from the United States and India announced today that a vaginal microbicide gel currently in the trial stages is safe for daily use, Agence France-Presse reports (afp.google.com, 2/25). The findings were presented at the 2008 Microbicide Convention in New Delhi.
Researchers asked 200 HIV-negative sexually active women from New York and Pune, India, to use the experimental tenofovir gel for six months in addition to condoms. AFP reports that after that period, none of the women suffered disruption of kidney, blood or liver function, with more than 90 percent of women saying that they would use the gel if it were approved as being effective in preventing HIV transmission.
“Based on what we have learned we can proceed with greater confidence on a path that will answer whether tenofovir gel and other gels with HIV-specific compounds will be able to prevent sexual transmission of HIV in women when other approaches have failed to do so,” says lead researcher Sharon Hillier of the University of Pittsburg School of Medicine.
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comments 1 - 3 (of 3 total)
susie, council bluffs, 2008-02-27 09:40:17
I also want to know if it will prefent a women who is HIV+ from giving it to her partner if he doesnt have HIV.Once again for all of us who are positive,God Bless!!!!
Barb, San Luis Obispo, 2008-02-26 15:52:39
This is fine for women who are sexually active with a man who can achieve orgasm wearing a condom.
Susan, Boston, MA, 2008-02-26 09:11:02
What about a microbicide that HIV+ women can use to not infect their HIV- male partners? Does this work in that way, too?
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.
Woman of the Month is supported by exclusive advertising from Gilead.
Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
