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Women Approve of Anti-HIV Gel

In an effort to combat the spread of HIV, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have found an experimental anti-HIV gel is safe for women to use on a daily basis.
The study included 200 sexually active HIV-negative women enrolled at UAB, Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center in New York and the National AIDS Research Institute in Pune, India. Participants were age 19 to 50, and 64 percent were married.

Researchers evaluated if the anti-HIV gel, tenofovir was safe to use every day for six months, or safe to use prior to each act of intercourse. They found both approaches equally safe. Women in the study were asked to use condoms in addition to the gel.
The active ingredient in tenofovir gel is a class of anti-retroviral drugs called nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors, which act against HIV by blocking the virus’ ability to replicate and grow inside the body.
Researchers found no disruption of liver, blood or kidney function in each group of women using a different gel regimen, including those given a placebo gel that looked and felt identical to the tenofovir gel.
From the study, researchers also found that the women were significantly willing to follow the gel-apply guidelines. Eighty percent of the women instructed to use the gel within two hours of having sex said they followed instructions, and 83 percent instructed to use the gel daily said they had done so in the week prior.
More than 90 percent of the study volunteers said they would seriously consider using the gel to help prevent HIV infection if it were approved, regardless of the regimen, to protect their sexual health.

Source: University of Alabama at Birmingham

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