Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1995. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Associated Press - 25 Aug 95
The study, published in The Lancet, reported results of a trial conducted in the Mwanza region of Tanzania, on the southern shore of Lake Victoria, between November 1991 and December 1994.
"We conclude that improved (sexually transmitted disease) treatment reduced HIV incidence by about 40 percent in this rural population," said the report.
It was described as the first randomized trial to demonstrate the impact of prevention intervention on the spread of AIDS.
"I think the reduction they did achieve was quite considerable," said Dr. Thomas Schulz, an AIDS researcher at the Institute of Cancer Research in London. "From a public health point of view of giving people a better sporting chance, it's a very good study."
Nonetheless, Schulz said the indication was that intervention would only slow the progression of the epidemic.
The study was conducted by researchers from the African Medical and Research Foundation, the National Institute for Medical Research in Nwanza and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
It involved six sets of control groups of about a thousand people who received testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases, and six comparable groups which did not.
The treatment included the establishment of clinics, staff training, regular supplies of drugs, and education about sexually transmitted diseases.
Despite the intervention, the authors said there was no change in the sexual behavior of those in the control group.
"In the absence of sexual behavior change, the most plausible explanation for our results is that the treatment program reduced HIV incidence by shortening the average duration of (sexually transmitted diseases), thus effectively reducing the probability of HIV transmission," the study said.
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