You bought new clothes for the occasion and splurged on the shoes. You’ve now been wined, dined and are back at “his place.” Owing either to the dinner he just bought you (which has been alleged to constitute sex), the wine you’ve been consuming (which conveniently impairs your judgment), or the fact that you might actually like the guy (go figure), you find yourself in a precarious position — missionary, doggy style, straddling the car’s gear shift, whatever it may be. Out of nowhere, trumpets sound and a superhero hands over a Trojan condom. Thanks to the Trojan Man, all you’ve exchanged with your date tonight is dinner — not bodily fluids.
The Trojan Man is like the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny. He’s great in theory, but when it comes to the grind (pun intended), unfortunately, he’s not there to deliver. With sexually transmitted diseases taking the world by force, his services would be a godsend. In 2002 alone, an estimated 5 million additional people worldwide contracted HIV, tallying a grand total of 42 million people living with either the virus or AIDS that year.
Although the Center for Disease Control does not recommend the use of “natural membrane” condoms (e.g. those made of lambskin) to prevent HIV transmission, research repeatedly suggests the latex condom as “a highly effective mechanical barrier to HIV.”
So where is the Trojan Man when you need him? I couldn’t find him, but I did have a chance to talk with Dr. Ronald Veazey of the Tulane National Primate Research Center in Covington. Dr. Veazey is part of a team that has developed what is dubbed the “invisible condom.” The “invisible condom” created by Veazey’s team represents a giant leap in preventing HIV distribution.
So what exactly is it? The “invisible condom” is a gel that — when applied to the vagina — prevents HIV from attaching to host cells. The saline solution contains b12 antibody, which competes with the virus for attachment at specific sites on the cells’ surfaces. Preventing the virus from attaching to the cells averts the entire viral life cycle, residence in a host cell is necessary for replication.
Twelve lucky monkeys were treated with the vaginal gel before being infected with the virus. The other 12 were not so lucky. All but one of the untreated monkeys contracted the virus, whereas that figure plummeted to 25 percent in the treated group.
When will something like this be on the market? In the name of money matters, pharmaceutical moguls are rearing their ugly heads, as the research and development of such a product is costly and the countries that require it represent some of the most poverty-stricken consumers. In at interview, Veazey told me that Africa and Asia — HIV’s most stricken playing fields — are “typically male-oriented societies, and real condoms are rarely used. Furthermore, women cannot insist that their partners use them in such societies, even if they were widely distributed.”
In light of those seemingly dim conditions, however, he added that women “are beginning to push the development of such compounds so that they have a means to protect themselves when in high-risk situations.”
Innovations such as this one could help protect not only women who are forbidden by their society to stand up to men, but also your girlfriend to whom you have repeatedly tried to explain “condoms take away the pleasure.” Although the antibody used in the “invisible condom” Veazey developed “will probably NOT make it into actual human use” due to cost, research is being conducted to find “a chemical that costs pennies (hopefully even less) per dose.” He added that although his team’s “invisible condom” will probably never see the market, “the significance … is that we were the first to demonstrate that the ‘principle’ of applying a compound to the vagina could prevent HIV transmission.” More cost-friendly methods of antibody production — such as the idea of using plants to produce “plantibodies” — are in the works.
The inevitable paradox of the modern world is hardly obscured — the capitalist world is relied upon by underdeveloped, under-funded nations for assistance. I offer no attack on American capitalism, only the detail that it doesn’t mix well with medical ethics and probably never will. However, with a president who is not only aware of the shadow AIDS casts over a global perspective, but also eager to allot 15 billion dollars over the next five years to restrain the pandemic, there is mammoth potential.