*"The only other alternatives are abstinence and the condom, and both depend on men."--Odd comment...I'm thinking they're only making a reference to Africa. http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/554 The gel, which would block the sexual transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), is one of the great dreams of AIDS researchers and campaigners, not least because it would hugely empower women. In southern Africa, the world's worst-hit region for AIDS, 60 per cent of those infected are women, many of whom were forced into coercive, unprotected sex by their husband or boyfriend. If they had access to a vaginal microbicide, they could quickly and discreetly shield themselves from the lethal pathogen. "We'd be happy to have that gel," grandmother Maria Nkosi from Nkomazi region in South Africa, said through a translator at the 16th International AIDS Conference here on Sunday. "Men are men and they don't like to use condoms, especially married men who refuse to wear a condom with their wives. This would offer women some protection from HIV/AIDS," she added. In 1997, funding for microbicides was a mere US$28 million. The first big attempt was a disaster: a derivative of an over-the-counter spermicide, it was found in tests to cause vaginal lesions, thus making it easier for the virus to enter a woman's blood stream. Today, though, the situation is very different. Funding reached US$163 million in 2005, helped in great part by the mighty Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which on Sunday identified microbicides as an "immediate priority" for philanthropy. Five promising prototype gels - based on HIV-blocking sticky molecules called polyanions, one of them found in seaweed - are in human trials to test whether they are safe and effective. In the lead is a formula called Carraguard. Its trials end in December 2007, which means that - if all goes well - it could be available in 2009, said Zeda Rosenberg, chief executive of the International Partnership for Microbicides, which uses donors' money to identify and test candidate gels. The next candidate gels, still in the lab, are based on orally-taken antiretroviral drugs which are well-known for their HIV-killing ability. Rosenberg said it was essential to get as many interesting candidates into the test process as possible. "You need to plant a lot of seeds to have flowers growing," she said. "Drug development is a very risky business. You see many failures before you have a success. There has been a lot of pressure on the microbicide field, to have a home run right away, and that is misguided. "It will take a lot of effort, and you need to have a lot of these products developed so that you can ensure that one of them will work," she added. And she cautioned against hopes that this first generation will provide a shield that is 100 per cent effective. Even if the cream is only 30 per cent effective it would be a useful public-health option as it would slow the spread of the global HIV pandemic, said Rosenberg. If the right formula is found, there remain other challenges to resolve, such as how to deliver it into the vagina so that it provides good and potentially long protection. One approach of interest is to adapt an existing ring that releases a hormone contraceptive. In addition to microbicides and condoms, the other pillar of HIV prevention is vaccines. But the search in this area has been hugely disappointing, for in the 25-year history of AIDS, only one candidate vaccine has been put through the entire test process, and it flopped. The only other alternatives are abstinence and the condom, and both depend on men. "To change the sexual behaviour of men is a question of generations," said Stephen Lewis, the U.N. Secretary-General's special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. "Women are dying now."
It's pretty much under control in Europe. People don't die of aids though it becomes a chronic disease. Aids get blocked and so increases the life-span of the carrier and making the majority careless again so that new and more dangerous strains can develop.