lubricants

[R.Th.M. Nederveen]

Research shows some lubricants may kill HIV

by Randy Dotinga
Gay.com / PlanetOut.com Network

€ Condoms may not stop STDs Could your favorite lube prevent AIDS? Biologists in Texas say it's a possibility if you use the popular sexual lubricant Astroglide, which appears to kill HIV in the laboratory. But experts caution that no one should rely on lubricants to do anything other than slick you up, at least until research is done on humans.
"It's minorly interesting data in a test tube," said Gregg Gonsalves, director of treatment advocacy at Gay
PROMOTION Men's Health Crisis.
The findings about Astroglide -- which is popular among gay men -- were made by biologists at the University of Texas Medical Branch. They also found that Silken Secret and Vagisil Intimate Moisture, two lubricants designed specifically for women, had HIV-killing powers.
This isn't the first time the Texas researchers have been in the news. Last year, they discovered that saliva in the mouth can kill HIV. That explained why the AIDS virus is generally not transmitted through kissing.
This time, the biologists looked at 22 "personal lubricants" that are available on drugstore shelves. They reported their findings in the July 20 issue of the journal AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses.
When mixed with semen containing the AIDS virus, the three lubricants - Astroglide, Silken Secret and Vagisil Intimate Moisture -- easily killed HIV cells. In fact, only 0.1 percent of the virus -- one in every thousand cells -- was left alive. "That's really powerful inhibition," said study author Dr. Samuel Baron.
Two chemicals in the lubricants appear to kill HIV by targeting the membranes of the virus and the cells already infected by it, Baron said. He wouldn't reveal the name of the chemicals pending the release of a future study, but he did say they both increase the slipperiness and thickness of the lubricants.
One lubricant company began to provide money for the research after preliminary results were released, he said.
Both Baron and two experts warned that lubricants shouldn't be used alone to achieve safer sex. Gonsalves of Gay Men's Health Crisis said lubricants may help prevent HIV by reducing the number of abrasions that can spread the virus. But that is just a theory, he said.
If you do use a lubricant, it should be water-based and accompanied by a condom, he said.
Baron says the University of Texas paid for the initial research, but one of the two lubricant manufacturers later helped with funding. He would not say which company was involved.
The next step is human tests, which may cost as much as $3 million, Baron says.
Only then will the true value of the lubricants be known, said Carl Dieffenbach, a federal AIDS official. A laboratory test is different from real life in "more ways than you can count," he said. "To think that you can extrapolate from one to another is ludicrous."
Posted July 23, 2001