New Medical Ring Confirmed To Protect Women Against HIV/AIDS

HIV has been endangering people around the world. Now, a ring that dodges drugs has been found to significantly reduce women's risk of being infected with HIV in early tests. This suggests that women may have a better and easier option to avoid being infected of the disease.

Upi.com reported that the monthly dapivirine ring significantly decreased the risk of HIV spread by more than 50 percent in testing with high-risk women in Africa. The new data was announced before the AIDS 2016 international conference in Durban South Africa. The information gave hope for two studies with the device which is scheduled to start within the next couple of months.

The research team found that women's risk of catching the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) on average was cut by 56 percent. And women who used it the most (mostly older women) had a reduced risk of at least 75 percent.

The ring, developed by the International Partnership for Microbicides was apparently created to help women discreetly protect themselves from acquiring HIV. Researchers also think that if it's combined with the efficacy of PrEP, the spread of HIV and AIDS could dramatically decrease, NBC News reported.

For the studies, researchers enlisted 1,959 women from South Africa and Uganda for The Ring Study, and 2,629 in South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. All the women who were enlisted were HIV-negative between the ages 18 and 45.

At first, researchers noticed a reduced in the number of HIV spread among women in the studies by about a third, although in depth analysis revealed that women who used the monthly rig with consistency had their risk of acquiring the infection reduced by about 56 percent. However, researchers revealed that those women who used the ring "the most" had their chances of contracting the infection cut by 75 percent.

Science Daily reported that researchers are currently preparing for two studies -- HIV Open-label Prevention Extension, or HOPE, and Dapivirine Ring Extended Access and Monitoring, or DREAM which will each use the same women from the previous two studies who were not infected with HIV to continue testing the effectiveness of the ring.

"While IPM seeks regulatory approval for the ring, we will continue to work to understand how we can best support women to use it consistently, and advance research to expand women's options with additional new methods that make sense for their lives and needs," said Dr. Zeda Rosenberg, chief executive officer of IPM, which developed the ring.

"We are encouraged by these new analyses, which further support that the dapivirine ring could be an important option for women who urgently need new tools to protect themselves from HIV," he added.

There is still no vaccine to combat HIV, but taking an HIV drug everyday can protect people from contracting the virus. The vaginal ring and other similar products, known as microbicides, aim to give women and in some special cases, men different ways to protect themselves.