NYT/AP: (anti-HIV) Vaginal Gel Trials Start in South Africa

[DeepModem Mom]

Vaginal Gel Trials Start in South Africa
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 28, 2005


CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) -- Researchers in Africa have started what they describe as the largest trials ever held of a vaginal gel that could help women protect themselves against HIV in countries where men are notoriously reluctant to use condoms.

About 10,000 women in South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia are expected to take part in the trial of PRO 2000, which could provide a physical barrier that prevents HIV from reaching target cells during sexual intercourse. It is one of a number of microbicide products in various stages of clinical development around the world.

The first nine volunteers were enrolled in Johannesburg this week, said Sibongile Walaza of the University of Witwatersrand Reproductive Health Research Unit.

HIV infection is rising more rapidly among women than men in many parts of the world. Half of all adults living with the virus that causes AIDS are female, according to U.N. figures.

In sub-Saharan Africa, home to more than 25 million of the nearly 40 million people infected globally, the figure is nearly 60 percent, with most new infections acquired through heterosexual intercourse. Yet strong taboos exist on the continent against the use of condoms....


http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-South-Africa-AIDS.html

[JudyM]

1. Wonder where that taboo against condoms came from...

[DeepModem Mom]

2. A very good question. I wonder if someone here has an answer. nt

[sweepster]

3. It's male thing...

I would suspect they just don't want to use condoms-so they say it is taboo. Women may also have a little less say on condom usage. I also think you have some thinking(in some groups/regions) that females are subservient and "i will do as damn well as I please because I'm a male" and cost may be a factor as well.

[belle]

4. Using a condom would imply they might be diseased, and/or that they

slept around (I'm presuming), or, worse, that the woman might fuck around with someone else; and, well, we couldn't have THAT.

in other words, same as here.

[schmuls]

5. Exactly how are they going to determine if it works...

Wouldn't the only way be to use the HIV itself to test it?

[nodehopper]

6. tracking people with HIV + partners over time, I suppose

women with HIV + husbands, sex workers, etc.

[schmuls]

7. pretty extreme!

So if they test it on women who have HIV positive husbands and it turns out to be ineffective, they have just infected themselves with HIV! Sounds like a pretty drastic way to test it's effectiveness. Can't they just do it in a petri dish?