AEGiS-AP: Scientist To Test Gel To Help Women Fend Off AIDS

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Scientist To Test Gel To Help Women Fend Off AIDS

The Associated Press - 14 February 1996.

BETHESDA, Md. (AP)--University of Pittsburgh scientist Sharon Hillier is about to test how well special bacteria that help conquer vaginal infections naturally work as a ''microbicide,'' a gel or cream women could use to help protect themselves from sexual intercourse with partners who might have HIV.

Hillier is putting lactobacilli, beneficial bacteria that already live in healthy women, into vaginal suppositories to see if they will take root and help fend off infections.

Lactobacilli are best known as bacteria eaten in yogurt, but a different strain lives in the vagina. They constantly manufacture hydrogen peroxide and lactic acid, two chemicals that kill infections, including HIV, Hillier explained.

Hillier studied 600 women in a Seattle clinic and found women most likely to have the disease-fighting bacteria were white, nonsmokers, over age 19 and who seldom douche, a process that literally washes bacteria out of the vagina. The 275 women who did have the good bacteria were much less likely to have any vaginal infections.

In about a month, Hillier will give her new suppositories or a placebo to 900 Pennsylvania teen-agers, checking them for sexually transmitted infections for at least three years. While too few are expected to contract HIV to prove the bacteria work as an AIDS microbicide, enough should be exposed to more common sexually transmitted pathogens that Hillier can determine whether to try testing in thousands of women.
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