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Professor says 'We have created the first vaginal gel designed to prevent movement of the AIDS virus. This is unique. There's nothing like it'
Vital tests
The 'liquid condom' that traps HIV
A vaginal 'liquid molecular condom' that solidifies in contact with semen and traps particles wider than 50 nanometres, which includes the HIV virus, is being developed at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, New Scientist has revealed. It's hoped that the invention will protect women in areas such as sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia, where, in some age groups, as many as 60% are already infected with HIV.
Before sex, women would insert a vaginal gel which remains in liquid form while in contact with acidity levels normally found in the vagina, but when it encounters semen, which is slightly alkaline, it becomes a semisolid and, apart from acting as contraceptive, traps viruses including herpes and papilloma, as well as HIV.
Patrick Kiser, an associate professor of bioengineering at the university, whose team has helped develop the gel, said: "We have created the first vaginal gel designed to prevent movement of the AIDS virus. This is unique. There's nothing like it. We did it to develop technologies that can enable women to protect themselves against HIV without approval of their partner, particularly in resource-poor areas of the world like sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia."
Dr Kiser estimated that if all goes well, clinical trials of the gel could begin in as little as three years, with a marketable version available several years on, and eventually it may be possible to incorporate an antiviral drug so it both blocks HIV movement and prevents the virus from replicating.
