Breast Milk May Prevent Spread Of HIV/AIDS

An article in The Australian reports that breast milk may contain an agent that can prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. Leigh Dayton writes:

A CHEAP natural compound widely used in foods and cosmetics and contained in healthy human breast milk has opened the door to a new wayto prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The good news comes from US researchers who found that, when used as a topical gel, or microbicide, the antimicrobial compound glycerol monolaurate (GML) prevented infection in animals.

Although the work was done with female rhesus macaque monkeys infected with SIV, the primate version of the human immunodeficiency virus, the team predicts GML will protect women who apply it vaginally before having sex, because HIV and SIV act almost identically in their living hosts...

If GML works in people as hoped, Dr Anderson said it would be invaluable where women were discouraged or prevented from using condoms, the most effective means of blocking HIV.

Until now, trials of microbicides -- such as HIV vaccines -- have been disappointing. Some have even increased the risk of HIV infection.

In their report in the journal Nature, Dr Haase and his colleagues said what made GML different was that it did not target the virus itself. Instead, it altered a naturally occurring immune response that, perversely, helped the virus spread.

The wonders of breast milk never cease to amaze me. I am, however, disappointed that this article focused on how women can apply the agent to their vaginas before sex (as if women don't shoulder enough responsibility when it comes to heterosexual sexual relations) and yet there is no mention of how exclusive and extended breastfeeding is important to the health of the entire human population.

You can read the full article here: Breast milk agent may thwart HIV