New Vaginal Gel Prevents Herpes

Scientists at South Africa's Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research discovered that a vaginal gel meant to prevent women from getting HIV also helps to inhibit the transmission of the herpes virus. The author of this study, Dr. Leila Mansoon spoke to the press about this incidental finding which came about as her team was studying the gel's effects on HIV. Mansoon says that the HSV-2 herpes virus is the most common infection of all and that no cure has been found for the virus.

By Happenstance

The research team discovered that the gel cuts the risk for herpes in half only as they were analyzing the study results. The researchers became very excited when they realized what they'd found. Herpes is the virus that is responsible for the development of genital warts. The results of this study were revealed in a lecture presented at the 18th International Conference on HIV/AIDS which took place in Vienna, Austria.

It's clear that further study is needed to reproduce these findings. In the meantime, scientists are debating the merits of distributing the gel now since it offers so much protection against the herpes virus, or whether it would be more prudent to wait until further studies can replicate these same results. Women whose partners opt out of wearing condoms during sexual encounters can find a measure of protection against herpes and HIV by using this vaginal gel.

The main ingredient in the gel is the AIDS drug Tenofovir which has been demonstrated to halve the risk of HIV transmission if used for one year. After using the gel for two and a half years, Tenofovir still offers significant protection 39% of the time. The gel has been produced in only limited amounts since it was meant to be used in research only, as is the case in this current study. Up until now, the gel has been offered to 889 female study subjects in and around Durban. These study participants are of a heterosexual orientation.

Half of the women used the microbicide gel while the rest were given a vaginal gel with no active ingredient as a placebo. The women were asked to make use of the gel 12 hours in advance of sexual intercourse as well as 12 hours or so after having sex. By the study's end, only 38 women using the Tenofovir gel had contracted HIV, while 60 of the women who used the placebo were found to have the virus.

No Difficulty

There was only one side effect seen with the gel, a bit of mild diarrhea. The women had no difficulty applying the gel and said their partners didn't seem to have any issues with its use. Most important of all, 99% of the women in the study said they'd be happy to use the vaginal gel if it could be proven to prevent HIV.