By Saniya Ghanoui -- July 20, 2010
A new anti-HIV gel is being hailed as a milestone in stopping the spread of HIV in women.
The test results, announced Monday at the international AIDS conference in Vienna, show the vaginal gel reduced the risk of infection by 54 percent for women who used the gel consistently. The product is in the second of a three-phase trial.
"We are giving hope to women. For the first time we have seen results for a woman-initiated and -controlled HIV prevention option," said Michel Sidibe, the executive director of the UN agency UNAIDS. "If confirmed, a microbicide will be a powerful option for the prevention revolution and help us break the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic."
The gel contains one percent of tenofovir, the main component in the "cocktail" given to those infected with HIV. In addition, the test results indicate that there is not a risk of becoming immune to tenofovir.
New statistics released at the conference revealed low-income and poverty stricken areas in the United States have HIV epidemics.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said low-income heterosexuals in those neighborhoods were twice as likely to become infected as other heterosexuals in the community who had more money.
This research is important because it is the first of its kind to focus on the income levels associated with the transmission of HIV and not the race, sexual preference or drug use of those studied.
"In the United States, we haven't had a history of looking in depth at the association between poverty and HIV," said Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of HIV/AIDS Prevention for the CDC.
The review examined nearly 10,000 heterosexual adults, who have never used intravenous drugs, from 23 high-poverty cities in the U.S.
The results reveal that 1 in 42 people have HIV in areas below the federal poverty line compared with 1 in 83 people who live above the poverty line. In 2007, the poverty line was defined as an income of $10,000 or less for an individual person.
According to the CDC, more than 1.1 million people are living with AIDS in the U.S. and there are around 55,000 new infections each year.
(Photo courtesy: AP Images)
