Pill taken before sex would prevent transmission of HIV

Scientists are developing a pill to be taken before sex that would stop transmission of HIV. In the latest development in the battle against the global epidemic which claimed two million lives last year, researchers are investigating whether drugs used to treat the disease might be harnessed to protect against it.

 

Antiretroviral drugs are already used to prevent transmission from mothers to their babies during birth and scientists hope the same protection can be obtained during sex. If successful, the research would raise ethical questions about the prevention of HIV, including who should take such a drug, in what circumstances and with what risk of side effects.

 

Three trials of antiretroviral drugs which are being given to uninfected people at high risk of HIV are under way around the world and are "showing great promise," according to a report in the Lancet, published to co-incide with the International Conference on AIDS in Mexico City.

 

One British researcher said yesterday that the return of the bathhouse culture among gay and bisexual men, involving sex with multiple partners, could provide the scenario in which a preventive pill might be taken.

 

Sheena McCormack, a specialist in HIV prevention and reader in clinical epidemiology at Imperial College London, said: "The party scene involving multiple sexual partners is definately back in London and probably in most European cities. There is metrosexual mixing involving gay, bisexual and some heterosexual cases.

We estimate new HIV infections in gay men in London are running at 3 per cent per year."