Antiretrovirals are

2011/01/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Mikrobiologia
• Medikuntza

They have been shown to reduce the risk of AIDS by 43.8%

The New England Journal of Medicine has published a study on the effectiveness of antiretrovirals in AIDS prevention. The name of the study is iPREX and, in particular, the III. The results are the results of a phase 1 session. This session was attended by 2,499 people from six countries (Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Thailand, the Republic of South Africa and the United States), all of them men with a male gender - one of the groups with the highest risk of contracting AIDS.

The research was conducted between July 2007 and December 2009. During this time, half of the volunteers took two commonly used antiretroviral drugs daily in treatment: entricinabine and tenofovirra. The other half took the placebo. They informed everyone about the forms of infection and protection measures, distributing condoms.

At the end of the test, the researchers found a remarkable difference between the two groups: between those taking drugs there were 36 infected and the other group, 64. That is, taking medicine reduces the risk of infection by 43.8%.

Although the result is satisfactory, some experts have taken the news wisely. Some of them, for example, are concerned about side effects: although those who have participated in the experiment have not detected serious side effects, you cannot know what would happen if antiretroviral prevention lasts for years. Others worry about money, which is very expensive as prevention. Finally, some people think that the news can lead people to relax and act indifferent.

Apart from this type of doubts and concerns, the investigation has another consequence. In fact, other groups were also testing antiretrovirals such as heterosexuals on a preventive basis. Now that medicines have been shown to be effective, it is not ethical to give placebo to some, so the design of the experiments will have to be changed.

In any case, the results of the research are good and, after failing so many times in the fight against AIDS, it cannot be denied that it is a step in the search for new preventive measures.