RESEARCHERS have developed a flexible vaginal ring which they say could help prevent HIV infection and unplanned pregnancies.
This was announced at the 2010 International Microbicides Conference (M2010), which is underway in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States.
The meeting is discussing HIV prevention research and is being attended by more than one thousand delegates drawn from 47 countries.
Laboratory tests of the flexible ring containing two anti-HIV drugs were said to have shown that it can deliver therapeutic levels of two HIV drugs for up to 30 days.
The ring is now ready for testing of its safety in women.
Brij Saxena - a professor of reproductive biology and lead author of a recent study on the ring in the journal AIDS - said that laboratory testing showed the device would be effective at preventing HIV infection and pregnancy by releasing several types of non-hormonal agents and microbicides.
Microbicides are compounds or substances that help reduce the infectivity viruses and or bacteria.
Professor Saxena added that if proven successful in clinical trials, the device would allow women to effectively protect themselves from HIV and avoid pregnancy as well as protect themselves from other sexually transmitted diseases.
Vaginal rings have been used to deliver contraceptives and now this strategy is being applied for delivering formulations of microbicides to protect against HIV.
Unlike gels that must be used every day or at the time of sex, rings can be inserted into the vagina and stay in for a month or longer.
Jeffrey Laurence, co-author of the study and a physician at New York Presbyterian Hosptal said, "No one has ever conquered a viral epidemic with treatment, so prevention is the most effective option."
He added, "Ideally, an HIV vaccine is the most desirable method, but that is not foreseeable in the near future. The next best thing would be something that would prevent infection and put the power in the susceptible female partner's control. That's the potential a device such as this can offer".
The United Nations joint programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) says at least 33 million people are living with HIV around the world - more than two thirds of them in sub-Saharan Africa.
UNAIDS adds that the number of new infections continues to outstrip advances in treatment