Study Finds Vaginal Gel Cuts Risk of Contracting HIV

Wash. Post: Vaginal gel cuts risk of HIV infection, study shows, by David Brown:

For the first time a vaginal gel that a woman can use during sexual intercourse has been shown to markedly cut the risk of becoming infected with the virus that causes AIDS.

In a study of 900 South African women, a gel containing the antiretroviral drug tenofovir reduced the overall chance of infection by 39 percent. In women who used the substance consistently and as directed, the protection was even better: 54 percent.

The findings of the study, which will be described Tuesday at the 18th International AIDS Conference in Vienna, marks the first success in a 15-year-long search for a method of HIV prevention that can be controlled by women at risk of contracting the disease through sexual intercourse. Short of a vaccine, an effective "vaginal microbicide" has been the most elusive goal in the epidemic. . . .