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Page 6
NATION
Thursday, July 13,;
THE BATTALION
Study shows a common spermicide may increase risk of contracting HI\
DURBAN, South Africa (AP) — The wide
ly used spermicide nonoxynol-9, long recom
mended as a way to stop the spread of AIDS,
may actually increase the risk of catching the
virus, at least among women who use it fre
quently, according to the surprising findings
of a large study.
As a result, health officials said condoms
used solely to prevent disease should not be
coated with nonoxynol-9, although a condom
with the spermicide is certainly safer than no
condom at all. And they said the spermicide
should also not be used as birth control by any
one at high risk of catching HIV.
Nonoxynol-9 is widely used around the
world for contraception, and about one-third
of lubricated condoms sold in the United States
are covered with it. Nonoxynol-9 is a detergent
formulated to kill sperm, but in the test tube it
also wipes out HIV, and many have long as
sumed it helps protect people from the virus.
However, a study on prostitutes released
Wednesday at the 13th International AIDS
Conference showed just the opposite: Women
using a nonoxynol-9 gel increased their risk of
contracting HIV rather than lowering it.
"It is an understatement to say that we were
extremely disappointed," said Dr. Lut Van
Damme of the Institu te of Tropical Medicine in
Antwerp, the study's director.
The researchers now assume that
nonoxynol-9, or N-9, increases the risk by irri
tating the vaginal lining, causing tears thalt
the virus a way to enter the body.
The prostitutes in the study appliedN-);
to 20 times a day, and there is no evidence:,
women who use it once or twice a day increi
their risk of HIV. Nevertheless, Van Dane
recommended that N-9's long-term safety
contraceptive be re-evaluated.
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