Gel seen as breakthrough in fight against Aids

LONDON - Scientists yesterday hailed a potential breakthrough in the fight against Aids after a vaginal gel was found to cut HIV infection rates by up to 50 per cent.

The gel, which was tested on high-risk women in South Africa, contains the Aids drug tenofovir. It was found to halve HIV infection rates after one year of use, and after 2 years of use still produced a 39 per cent fall in infections. If the results are confirmed it will be the first time such a gel has been shown to be effective.

It is hoped the gel could be used as a defence for women whose partners refuse to wear condoms.

In sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 60 per cent of those infected with HIV are women. Rates are higher because women are often forced to take part in unsafe sex and are biologically more vulnerable to HIV infection than men.

The United Nations said it would convene a meeting in South Africa next month to discuss the next steps.

The results follow a three-year study by the Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in South Africa, a country with one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the world. They are being presented at an Aids conference in Vienna and were published yesterday by the United States magazine Science.

The gel was found to provide protection when used once in the 12 hours before sex and once in the 12 hours after sex by women aged between 18 and 40 years.

The research still requires substantial analysis and it will be years before it can conceivably be available on a significant scale.

- Independent