CHUCK KANDRACH

December 1, 2006 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 7

Microbicides are the latest HIV prevention tool

by Sarah Sobel

Condoms are not enough. Over 25 years into the AIDS epidemic, we must look to new strategies for preventing HIV infection. The latest method currently in development is microbicides.

Microbicides would be a variety of products used to prevent the transmission of HIV

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AIDS Taskforce executive director Earl Pike discusses microbicides at University Hospitals in September.

and other sexually transmitted diseases. They could be gels, creams, suppositories, films, or in sponges or rings. Microbicides could work against HIV transmission through five possible approaches:

• They could kill or inactivate viruses or other pathogens directly;

• They could create barriers between the pathogen and tissue;

Improving the

They could strengthen the body's natural defenses;

• They could inhibit viral entry;

• They could inhibit replication of HIV itself. Although microbicides are undergoing clinical trials to ensure their effectiveness, one product may be available as early as 2010.

For people living with HIV or AIDS around the world, microbicides could become the most successful preventive technology for the fastestgrowing group infected: women. Because microbicides are designed to be used without a partner's involvement, women could take control of their prevention needs by using vaginal microbicides to prevent the transmission of HIV and STDs.

But some researchers are also looking into the possibility of rectal microbicides, which could prevent HIV infection through anal intercourse. An effective rectal microbicide is more technically challenging, but clinical trials have already begun, and scientists are hopeful. For million of gay and bisexual men, rectal microbicides could change, utterly, the way we respond to the epidemic.

Cleveland is one of the national leaders in microbicide development. The Case Western Reserve University/University Hospitals Center for AIDS Research is one of 11 research centers in the country to receive federal funding. Cleveland also houses the AIDS Clinical Trials Group, which is one of 33 clinical trials units in the United States and one of three in Ohio.

The AIDS Taskforce is a member of the Cleveland chapter of the Global Campaign for Microbicides. The Taskforce brought the campaign's exhibit, Giving Women Power Over AIDS, to Cleveland in late September. The exhibit was shown at the Great Lakes Science Center, University Hospitals, and Cuyahoga Community College's Western Campus.

Sarah Sobel is a public policy associate at the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland.

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