New Vaginal Gel Reduces HIV Risk by Half

In a major breakthrough which has unveiled a novel means of protection from HIV and several STDs (sexually transmitted diseases), scientists discovered that a vaginal gel application by females prior to and following sexual intercourse cuts the risk of contracting the AIDS virus by thirty-nine percent and genital herpes by fifty-one percent.

It is the foremost instant that an HIV-preventative means which a woman could control has been discovered. Women have always had to suffer as a result of the HIV outbreak in Africa. Nearly one-third of the females in the trial stated that their mates were unaware that they had used the transparent, odor-free gel.

These study outcomes surface when donor countries have been recoiling at sustained big augments for backing AIDS therapy, building up pressure on locating novel means of preventing individuals from acquiring the virus in the foremost instant.

The trial – a double-blinded, randomized, placebo control – the benchmark for scientific study – has shown outcomes that are considered statistically important. The HSV-2 (herpes simplex virus 2) has been found to render females more prone to contracting HIV hence the researchers believe that obstructing it would augment the gel’s capability of preventing HIV.

Among the chief researchers, Salim Abdool Karim, stated that since it is the foremost study that shows the gel does work, a corroboratory study would be necessary.

According to the study investigators, the vaginal gel, Tenofovir, an antiretroviral microbicide could avert half-a-million HIV cases in the subsequent decade in S. Africa. Gilead Sciences Inc. which has been marketing it in the United States by the name Viread has provided the gel at no-cost.

Doctors administer the drug as a tablet form in medication combos and commonly employed for treating individuals having AIDS.

Estimations provided by the UN show that around eighteen percent of people from S. Africa in the age band of fifteen to 49 years had HIV infection in 2007, deemed the peak rates across the globe. Nearly sixty percent of these infection-ridden adults were females.

Numerous admonitions follow, namely several females at risk of developing HIV conceive and there is dearth of proof that the drug is causal to birth anomalies, however study investigators wish to get this evaluated.

Also the trial was a medium-sized one enrolling just 889 females in duo locations – metropolitan and rural, for 1-2and 1/2 years. 60 from the 444 females on placebo developed HIV as against thirty-eight from the 445 employing the tenofovir gel. This translates to a thirty-nine percent lesser infection rate annually among females employing the gel. Taking into consideration room for error, tenofovir gel can slash infection rates by nearly sixty percent or as less as six percent.

The efficacy of the intercession appeared to fade with passage of time, plummeting from fifty percent in the initial year to thirty-nine percent at 2 ½ years. A likely explanation would be several women might have employed the gel on lesser instances with passage of time.

Women who were steady users had better protection as compared to those who employed it intermittently. According to investigators, in regular users the efficiency of the gel did not fade as time passed.

The study bolsters a new-fangled thrust to deploying antiretroviral medications for preventing HIV transmission, inclusive of getting non-infected individuals to use them orally. The gel intended for skin application contains lesser medication as compared to pills and thus lesser side-effects. The South-Africa based study noted just a small rise in the cases of mild loose bowels among tenofovir gel users in comparison to placebo users. There is zilch proof of resistance to the medication.

The gel was observed to provide statistically noteworthy HIV shielding at twelve, eighteen, twenty-four and thirty months.

A larger-scaled study enrolling around five thousand females employing the analogous gel, yet with a differing dose regime is in-progress in Africa, outcomes of which are due after three years.

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