Uganda starts clinical trials of virginia ring to prevent HIV/AIDS

Uganda starts clinical trials of virginal ring to prevent HIV/AIDS

     KAMPALA, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Uganda has started clinical trials to test the effectiveness and safety of a ring containing an anti- retroviral (ARV) drug, which is inserted in the
vagina to prevent HIV infection in women.
     State owned New Vision daily reported on Thursday that screening of the participants started Wednesday with three women out of the required 200.
     The participants will be assigned at random to receive either a silicone ring containing 25 milligrams of dapivirine or a placebo silicon ring.
     The study aims at determining whether dapivirine can safely prevent HIV infection when continuously released in the vagina.
     Participants will be instructed to insert a new ring every four weeks for at least 12 months, according to the researchers who announced the trials on Tuesday during the
19th International AIDS conference in Washington DC.
     The women will stay in the study for a year or two and the possible results are expected in 2014 or early 2015, according to the newspaper report.
     This is part of a wider study conducted by the U.S. National Institute of Health in four other African countries -- Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa.
     A total of 3,476 participants are expected to take part in the trials.
     Statistics show that half of the world's HIV-infected population is female, while in Africa, 60 percent of the infected adults are women and most of them get it through
unprotected sex.
     According to the researchers since many women cannot negotiate male condom use with their sexual partners, they need a form of HIV prevention they can use
independently, regularly and can be implemented discreetly.  (Xinhua)