Times Live Blog: Promising results in blocking HIV during first days of infection: M2010
M2010 Microbicides: HIV prevention conference opens tonight
By Claire Keeton (Times Live Blog) 23 May 2010: The use of ARVs in microbicides to prevent HIV, rectal microbicides, the risks of getting HIV during pregnancy and anal sex, and new formulations like films and vaginal rings are “hot topics” for M2010, according to the co-chairman Dr Ian McGowan.
Microbicides are substances that can be applied to the vagina or rectum to block HIV transmission at that site and prevent infection.
The M2010 MICROBICIDES: Building Bridges in HIV Prevention conference opens in Pittsburgh in the US tonight and will run until Tuesday night.
The first microbicides conference was held in 2000 and this is the 6th such conference, attracting more than 1000 delegates from 47 countries.
The results of the first microbicide using an ARV (tenofovir), which was tested in a human, clinical trial in South Africa, will be released in July.
The results of this trial are on the minds of all participants at this conference – what it will mean if it works and what questions it will raise if it does not – and what will be considered a good result.
So far only five out of 37 randomized clinical trials testing HIV prevention methods have shown some success – three of these on medical male circumcision – so high hopes rest on the efficacy of the tenofovir gel.
I am here, and will file one or two reports a day on this blog, and send stories to The Times, its online site, and the Sunday Times about the findings.
Time to go, the opening ceremony is starting.
blogs.timeslive.co.za/hiv/2010/05/23/m2010-microbicides-hiv-prevention-conference-opens-tonight/