Germicide Might Guard Against
HIV Infection
By Randy
Dotinga
HealthDay Reporter
by Randy Dotinga
healthday Reporter
WEDNESDAY, March 4, 2009 (HealthDay
News) -- Scientists report that a common germ-
killing compound prevented transmission of an HIV-like virus
in five female monkeys, an
encouraging sign that it might also work in humans.
The research is still in its
early stages. However, the researchers said the compound could
eventually make its way into sexual lubricants that women
could use to avoid infection with the
virus that causes AIDS.
"It's a promising lead that
we're on to something that's a different way to approach the problem
of prevention," said study co-author Dr. Ashley T. Haase, head
of the Department of
Microbiology at the University of Minnesota.
Currently, the most practical
ways to prevent HIV transmission are abstinence, monogamy
with an uninfected partner and protected sex. Researchers have
spent years trying to develop
another option: a gel that women, and perhaps men,
could use to kill the AIDS virus before it
enters the body.
But scientists have had
trouble killing the virus without harming the person in the process.
Some gels, for example, actually made transmission easier by
causing tears in the lining of the
vagina.
In the new research,
researchers examined a compound called glycerol monolaurate, which is
recognized as safe. It's found in products ranging
from ice cream to cosmetics and kills a
variety of germs in addition to helping
substances mix properly, said study co-author Patrick
M. Schlievert, a professor of
biology at the University of Minnesota.
In the new study, researchers
tested the compound on five female rhesus macaques that were
vaginally exposed to the monkey equivalent of the AIDS virus.
The findings were published in
the March 4 online issue of Nature.
The monkeys avoided infection.
Four out of five other monkeys who weren't treated with the
compound developed infections after being exposed.
The next step is to move on to
studies that will confirm the compound works and
to try to find
doses that "are more applicable to the real world," Haase
said.
There are other questions to
be answered, including whether the treatment would protect men
from infection when they have sex with men or women.
The good news: The compound
would cost less than a cent for each dose for a woman,
Schlievert said.
Dr. Jeffrey C. Laurence, a
professor at Cornell University who studies AIDS, said the new
study is innovative, because the treatment targets the body's
immune responses rather than
directly killing HIV itself.
The challenge is to develop a
product that prevents AIDS and is also "unobtrusive, easy to
use, and has long-lasting effects, so that it need not be applied
daily or before each act of
intercourse," said Laurence, who's also a senior
scientist for programs at The Foundation for
AIDS Research.
More information
The
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has more about
AIDS prevention drugs.
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