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HIV GEL SPECIAL REPORT

In recent years the scientific community has made big strides in the treatment of AIDS, meeting with considerable success in holding off progression of the disease. Now some researchers are focusing their fight on HIV prevention.
As the fight against AIDS rages on, on many fronts worldwide, it may be making headway in a laboratory in New York City.

Here, scientists from Mt. Sinai School of Medicine have been testing a new method of HIV prevention- a microbicide gel called PRO-2000, which is inserted into a woman’s vagina.
Dr. Betsy Herold, the principal investigator, says, “A microbicide is a drug that is formulated in a gel format or a similar format. PRO-2000 is a microbicide that women can apply vaginally to protect themselves from sexually transmitted infections.”
The gel is effective not only in HIV prevention, but also in guarding against the herpes virus, and even possibly the human papilloma virus, in addition to bacterial infections. So far the researchers have only worked with a small patient population of 20 HIV-infected women. But their results were encouraging, and have already led to bigger trials.
“The amount of drug that was still there in their vaginal and cervical fluid was sufficient to kill both the HIV virus and the virus that causes genital herpes,” Dr. Herold says.
Not only does the gel appear to protect a woman from HIV and HSV, it can even act as a barrier to pregnancy.
“We’re very, very pleased with the results. They were actually better than we predicted,” states Dr. Herold.
One of the most important goals of any preventative topical treatment is to give women a tool to protect themselves when their partners are not willing to use a condom.
“We need a mechanism that is inexpensive, easy to use and safe. That way women would be empowered to protect themselves and their future children from the HIV infection,” argues Dr. Herold.
So far PRO-2000 seems to work best when used within 30 minutes to an hour of sexual contact. Apart from being an effective method of HIV prevention, PRO-2000 could be a form of contraception. However scientists are advocating that it be used in addition to a condom.
Researchers hope some form of this HIV prevention gel makes it into mass production in 2-3 years.
Dr. Marla Keller, one of the study investigators says, “In the current studies that are going on, which are the Phase III trials for several of these products, condoms are being recommended in addition to the actual gel.”
The initial success of PRO-2000 is a definite step ahead in the worldwide crusade for HIV prevention.

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