14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers recently stated that a gel, against HIV virus for women may be available by 2010, if testing is successful.
Gita Ramjee, director of the HIV prevention research unit at South Africa's Medical Research Council, affirmed, at an international conference, that these microbicides, or vaginal gels, can stop the virus when men forget to use condoms.
Microbicides take the form of a gel, cream, sponge or ring that releases an active ingredient witch can kill or deactivate HIV cells, during sexual intercourse.
5 clinical trials, involving 12,000 people in South Africa and thousands in other countries, started and the results are expecting to be released in 2 years time. In many parts of the world, more women are infected than men.
In sub-Saharan Africa, 60% of people carrying the HIV virus are women and the majority of new infections are acquired through heterosexual intercourse.
A microbicide which is 60% more effective against HIV and used by 20% of women in 73 developing countries over 3 years could prevent 2.5 million infections.
Zeda Rosenberg, from the International Partnership for Microbicides, said that the $140 million spent yearly on microbicide research is not enough. "If our resources in the field could be doubled each year for the next 5 years, we could really get a lot of products into efficacy testing and maybe get some of them through".
"With no proof yet of their effectiveness, microbicides are still too risky an investment for companies," said conference organizer Helen Rees.