New vaginal gel could help protect women against HIV
Researchers have revealed that a new after-sex vagina gel can be used by women to protect themselves against HIV.
According to scientists at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, drugs applied three hours after exposure to the virus could protect female monkeys from a type of HIV, the BBC reported.
Researchers have said that this study would require large clinical trials to test any new treatment and that condoms still remain the best defense against HIV.
Scientists found that the gel protected five out of six monkeys from an animal-human laboratory strain of HIV, when it was applied before or three hours after infection.
Dr Charles Dobard, of the division of HIV/Aids prevention, said that the gel used is a promising after-sex vaginal gel to prevent HIV infection and studies still need to look for the window of opportunity.
Dr Andrew Freedman, reader and consultant in infectious diseases at Cardiff University School of Medicine, said that the gel contained a different class of anti-HIV drug, which attacks the virus at a later stage in infection.
The study is published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.