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http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-08/uou-ahg080709.php
"SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 10, 2009 – University of Utah scientists developed a new kind of "molecular condom" to protect women from AIDS in Africa and other impoverished areas. Before sex, women would insert a vaginal gel that turns semisolid in the presence of semen, trapping AIDS virus particles in a microscopic mesh so they can't infect vaginal cells."
Dude! I SO hope this passes the human clinical trials!
Basically, it's a gel that's inserted prior to sex that, when the pH balance of the vagina increases (this happens when semen is introduced to the vagina), a reaction happens between the polymeres in the gel that cause them to form a tight mesh that traps semen, HIV and possibly other viruses! This then prevents the HIV from attaching itself to vaginal tissue, which prevents a woman from acquiring HIV even if she's been exposed to it. Even at lower pH levels, the gel slows down the movement of HIV.
"After sex, the vagina gradually becomes acidic again, and any residual HIV particles would be inactivated both by acidity and an antiviral drug within the remaining gel, which still impedes HIV to some extent at normal vaginal acidity."
These findings will be published in a peer-reviewed journal later this week and will hopefully begin human clinical trials in 3 to 5 years, with marketing the gel for public use (pending favorable outcome of human testing) just a few years after that.
This will be first marketed towards women in Africa and other impoverished areas because women have so little power in their own reproductive and sexual functions. Not surprisingly, it's awfully hard to stop the spread of HIV when your male partner refuses to wear a condom and you have no ability to refuse him sex. So, although HIV is a big deal here in the US, the most important step is to stop the spread at its source.
So I really hope the human trials go well. In the past, microbials have had a hard time making it through the human stage because, as this article says, either it doesn't work inside actual humans, or the humans don't bother to use it (or use it properly) so accurate data is not available.
Someday we'll eradicate this and other plagues and today we are one step closer to that goal.
"SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 10, 2009 – University of Utah scientists developed a new kind of "molecular condom" to protect women from AIDS in Africa and other impoverished areas. Before sex, women would insert a vaginal gel that turns semisolid in the presence of semen, trapping AIDS virus particles in a microscopic mesh so they can't infect vaginal cells."
Dude! I SO hope this passes the human clinical trials!
Basically, it's a gel that's inserted prior to sex that, when the pH balance of the vagina increases (this happens when semen is introduced to the vagina), a reaction happens between the polymeres in the gel that cause them to form a tight mesh that traps semen, HIV and possibly other viruses! This then prevents the HIV from attaching itself to vaginal tissue, which prevents a woman from acquiring HIV even if she's been exposed to it. Even at lower pH levels, the gel slows down the movement of HIV.
"After sex, the vagina gradually becomes acidic again, and any residual HIV particles would be inactivated both by acidity and an antiviral drug within the remaining gel, which still impedes HIV to some extent at normal vaginal acidity."
These findings will be published in a peer-reviewed journal later this week and will hopefully begin human clinical trials in 3 to 5 years, with marketing the gel for public use (pending favorable outcome of human testing) just a few years after that.
This will be first marketed towards women in Africa and other impoverished areas because women have so little power in their own reproductive and sexual functions. Not surprisingly, it's awfully hard to stop the spread of HIV when your male partner refuses to wear a condom and you have no ability to refuse him sex. So, although HIV is a big deal here in the US, the most important step is to stop the spread at its source.
So I really hope the human trials go well. In the past, microbials have had a hard time making it through the human stage because, as this article says, either it doesn't work inside actual humans, or the humans don't bother to use it (or use it properly) so accurate data is not available.
Someday we'll eradicate this and other plagues and today we are one step closer to that goal.
