Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Plain Dealer (Cleveland) (12.09.06) - Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Regina McEnery
Still, however, scientists do not know whether certain forms of birth control, such as the pill, speed the progression of HIV. It is also uncertain why study participants who were free of herpes simplex virus 2 had an elevated HIV risk when they used oral or injectable birth control. Worldwide, around 18 million women are HIV-infected; most acquired the virus through heterosexual transmission.
The National Institutes of Health-funded study was led by Dr. Charles Morrison at Family Health International, a private organization that focuses on reproductive health issues. Morrison and researchers from Case Western Reserve University, the University of California-San Francisco and the University of Washington collaborated with colleagues in Thailand, Uganda, and Zimbabwe to design a study examining the link between HIV and birth control.
Clinics in Uganda and Zimbabwe, two countries with high rates of HIV and birth control use, tracked thousands of poor women in urban and rural areas. Of those, 208 eventually contracted HIV. In Thailand, the number of study participants who went on to contract HIV remained so low that the data were eventually excluded.
Dr. Robert Salata, head of infectious diseases at Case University Medical Center and a study author, said, "Look at sub-Saharan Africa, where the latest data suggests up to 60 percent of people living with HIV are women." "It is reassuring that these major forms of birth control are not adding to the burden of disease."
The study, "Hormonal Contraception and the Risk of HIV Acquisition," was published in AIDS (2007;21(1):85-95).
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