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AIDS Advocates Demand Rectal Microbicides
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Abstract
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| Coinciding with Monday's start of the Microbicides 2006 Conference in South Africa, a coalition of activists called for $350 million in spending in the next 10 years to develop rectal microbicides to prevent HIV infection.
Researchers have developed several microbicide candidates for vaginal use, and some may be available as early as 2008. Yet from 2000 to 2006, only $34 million has been spent on rectal microbicide research, the advocates said, even though men who have sex with men are one of the groups most affected by HIV in the United States and Europe.
'Political marginalization and scientific challenges have sidelined investment into what could be a promising new prevention technology,' according to the report 'Rectal Microbicides: Investments and Advocacy.' 'Given the greater total numbers of heterosexuals than homosexuals, it is estimated that the total volume of heterosexual unprotected anal intercourse is up to fivefold that of men who have sex with men,' said the report.
Anal intercourse is 10 to 100 times more likely to transmit HIV than vaginal intercourse. Because of physiological differences, a product that protects against infection in the vagina may not project when used rectally. While the report said that efficacy trials for vaginal and rectal application should ideally be conducted in parallel, it added that at the least, vaginal products should be evaluated for rectal safety before moving into efficacy trials.
To access the report, visit www.aidschicago.org/pdf/2006/adv_rectalreport.pdf. |
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Source
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| Bay Area Reporter (San Francisco) |
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Subjects
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Advocacy
HIV/AIDS Prevention
Men Who Have Sex with Men
Research
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cdcnpin.org News Record #45370
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