Researchers Identify Drug That Might Block Sexual Transmission of HIV

[wildflower]

Researchers Identify Drug That Might Block Sexual Transmission of HIV

Researchers have shown that it may be possible to prevent sexual transmission of the AIDS virus HIV with a compound now in the experimental stage. Female monkeys who received it vaginally were protected from infection by a simian variation of HIV. Such a compound would be helpful to women whose partners are at high risk of the disease.

Many women around the world do not have the power to refuse sex or require their partners to use condoms, so public health officials have been seeking an odorless, tasteless compound a woman could apply privately to block HIV infection.

A new product shown to work in female rhesus monkeys may be what they have been looking for.

Scientists led by Dr. Michael Lederman of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland coated the vaginal surfaces of 30 monkeys with an experimental drug called PSC-RANTES 15 minutes before exposure to a combined monkey-human virus known as Simian HIV, or SHIV. Dr. Lederman's team reports in the journal Science that, depending on the concentration of the drug, it worked in varying degrees, from complete protection to much less.

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http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=9B93F256-C765-4FBF-9992D0738FA53D98&title=Researchers%20Identify%20Drug%20That%20Might%20Block%20Sexual%20Transmission%20of%20HIV&catOID=45C9C786-88AD-11D4-A57200A0CC5EE46C&categoryname=Health%20%26%20Medicine

[aquart]

1. Wow.

[truthisfreedom]

2. but does it cause cancer?

like french fries?

[ronnykmarshall]

3. Oh my god!

If this is true, this will be incredible.

[jmm]

4. I wonder how much this would cost?

This article mentions women who don't have the power to refuse sex of require their partners to use a condom but these are the women who would need it to be inexpensive the most.

[wildflower]

5. Right...

Plus, could this be used as another excuse not to fund contraception, education and other things that are blocked from women worldwide right now?

-wildflower

[harpo]

6. buggy and carriage stage huh...

[Ilsa]

7. It's a start. Something for Bushco to say "No" to, also.

"Many women around the world do not have the power to refuse sex or require their partners to use condoms"

It'll be hard to use if they are being raped, of course, but at least it's a start.