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HIV microbicide tested on SA women
Igsaan Salie. 24 April 2004. Saturday Weekend Argus. Republished courtesy of Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd.
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Human testing of a microbicide to prevent women becoming infected by HIV has begun in South Africa and several other countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
It could also prevent infected women transmitting HIV to men.
In South Africa, five research institutes have collaborated in the animal testing phase, and the final phase of human testing has begun with more than than 10 000 women taking part.
The microbicide can be developed as a gel, cream or suppository that is inserted in the vagina to prevent the transmission of HIV from an infected man to a woman as well as from an infected woman to a man.
The products line the vaginal wall, preventing the virus from attaching to it and getting into the bloodstream.
One product acts by sustaining the acidity inside the vagina, strengthening its natural defence mechanism by making the environment unsuitable for the virus.
The trials will be the third and final phase of human testing before the products are put out into the market.
Other countries involved in the research are Tanzania, Cameroon. Zimbabwe, Malawi and Uganda.
It is estimated that about 29,4 million people are infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa and the virus is spreading faster than anywhere else in the world.
Heading several research projects in South Africa is the director of the HIV Protection Research Unit of the Medical Research Council in Durban, Gita Ramjee.
For several years, the council has been conducting research into the use of microbicides to prevent HIV infection.
"Statistics show that infection among women is greater than in men in sub-Saharan Africa. Research shows that many women cannot negotiate condom use.
That is one of the reasons we are developing this microbicide, because using a condom is still primarily up to the man," Ramjee said.
The trials of the various products sponsored by organisations in the United States and the United Kingdom are being conducted in Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and in northern areas of KwaZulu-Natal.
Each study is designed to follow-up women for 12 to 18 months.
"Results from the first of these studies are expected in late 2007 or early 2008, if all goes well," she said.
Ramjee said HIV awareness was a high priority and all the women taking part in the trials would be briefed and educated before the trials began.
"We will inform them that it is an experimental product that is being tested and is not a proven preventative method. We will constantly be raising HIV awareness and encouraging condom use and distributing condoms," she said.
Ramjee predicts the entire process will take three to five years and said that in early animal studies and early human clinical trials the microbicide was found to be safe. |
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