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Posted

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/28/us-aids-gel-shown-protect-anal-tissue-hi-idUSTRE71R5GD20110228

(Reuters) - An experimental gel containing a prescription HIV drug has been shown for the first time to protect rectal tissue against the virus that causes AIDS, according to new research.

The gel, containing Gilead Sciences Inc's AIDS drug tenofovir, has previously been shown to sharply reduce HIV infections in women when applied inside the vagina.

The latest study, which involved rectal tissue biopsies taken from HIV-negative men and women who used the product daily for one week, provides the first evidence that tenofovir gel could help reduce the risk of HIV from anal sex.

Posted

Thanks, Pig Bottom, for posting this study info. The study's leader, Dr Hendrix, is an MD at Johns Hopkins U School of Medicine in Balto, MD. JHU is one of four centers that have been studying the epidemiology (natural history) of HIV infection in gay/bisexual men since 1984. It's all funded by an NIH grant that has been renewed several times over the last 27 years. The other centers are in Pittsburgh, LA and San Francisco, I believe. It's called the MACS study (Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study).

Overall, there are almost 5,000 gay/bisexual men in the study, both poz and neg, who each get 6 mo. physical checkups and participate in interviews where their sexual activity in the prior six months is collected. At times, there are various sub studies in which some of the study volunteers are invited to participate. I'm sure that sexually active neg bottoms in the MACS group would be eager to participate in any study that wants to show the efficacy of this Anal Gel that contains the antiviral tenofovir.

Also interesting was the note in the Reuters article about how thin rectal wall tissue is compared to a woman's vaginal tissue.

Even though the current study can't definitively say that the anal gel will protect from HIV infection, I'm glad that they are at least looking meds that may offer some protection for bottoms who are at the most risk of being seroconverted.

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