Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that leads to AIDS, is the most deadly sexually transmitted disease.

It can be contracted through sexual contact, needles or syringes, and also less commonly through blood transfusions. In addition, HIV can spread from infected mothers to babies before or during birth or through breast-feeding.

Most of those infected in the United States are men. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2006, 73 percent of adolescents and adults diagnosed with HIV/AIDS were men. Men who had sex with men represented the largest amount of people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. Those between the ages of 25 and 34 as well as 35 and 44 accounted for the largest proportion of new cases in 2006. In addition, blacks represented almost half of those diagnosed.

Abstaining from sex is the most effective HIV-protection method, but for those who choose not to, proper use of condoms can greatly reduce the risk of contracting HIV during sexual intercourse -- vaginally, anally and orally.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates condoms, which are available in a variety of types; however, only latex and polyurethane kinds have been proven highly effective at protecting against HIV. Lambskin condoms are not recommended for preventing disease because natural pores may allow viruses through. Effective prevention using condoms may also be inhibited by other obstacles.

"The problem with condoms are that they require someone to use them, No. 1, and No. 2, to use them correctly," said Craig Hoesley, M.D., an infectious disease physician at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

A vaginal gel may help protect women around the world from contracting HIV. The gel contains an anti-HIV drug called tenofovir (Viread). According to Hoesley, tenofovir is currently FDA approved in pill form to treat HIV infection in those who are HIV seropositive.

It works on an enzyme called reverse transcriptase that HIV needs to grow and reproduce inside the body.

In a double-blind trial to test the safety and acceptability the drug, 200 HIV-unaffected women were tested at three sites including in Alabama, New York and Pune, India. The study showed no significant difference in safety between the placebo and the gel.

About 39 percent of the women said it was easy to use. The most common complaint was that it was messy and time-consuming to apply, and the most common reasons the gel was not used was because of menstruation (41 percent) and forgetting (23 percent). Twelve percent of participants said it made sex more pleasurable.

Hoesley said the gel has the potential to become an alternative to condoms. He said it could be especially useful in parts of the world where women are less empowered to ask their male sex partner to use a condom.

Additional Resources:
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Troy Goodman, Public Relations
(205) 934-8938
tdgoodman@uab.edu
main.aub.edu/uasom