From Vienna: A Microbicide for Women to Prevent HIV
Some big news out of Vienna so far has been the results of a trial of a microbicide gel for women that seems to successfully reduce the chance for HIV infection.
A study conducted in South Africa of 889 women randomized to receive either tenofovir or a placebo microbicide found a 39% reduction of HIV incidence among women using tenofovir. When the investigators looked at groups based on their adherence levels, they found a 54% protective effect among high adherers, 38% protective effect among intermediate adherers and 28% protective effect among low adherers.
In addition, women randomized to the tenofovir arm also had a 51% reduction of herpes (HSV-2) incidence which will lower the overall prevalence of HSV-2 in the population and can additionally lower the incidence of HIV over the long term.
This is very exciting news as it could be a powerful tool for women to utilize in preventing HIV! Even though confirmatory studies need to be done, we should start considering how this intervention can fit within the health system.
You can read the full article, published in the magazine Science, here. The New York Times also published an article covering this study, and another one looking at the effect of giving poor women cash payments in reducing HIV infection.
One of the study authors, Quarraisha Abdool Karim (Photo: IAS/Marcus Rose/Workers' Photos)
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