Twice-yearly shots used to treat AIDS were 100% effective in preventing new infections in women, according to study results published Wednesday.

There were no infections in the young women and girls that got the shots in a study of about 5,000 in South Africa and Uganda, researchers reported. In a group given daily prevention pills, roughly 2% ended up catching HIV from infected sex partners.

“To see this level of protection is stunning,” said Salim Abdool Karim of the injections. He is director of an AIDS research center in Durban, South Africa, who was not part of the research.

The results in women were published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine and discussed at an AIDS conference in Munich. Gilead paid for the study and some of the researchers are company employees. Because of the surprisingly encouraging results, the study was stopped early and all participants were offered the shots, also known as lenacapavir.

  • Diplomjodler@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    4 months ago

    AIDS has been the most dangerous STD for decades. It has changed attitudes to sex worldwide. Having a vaccine is going to change them again.

    • sandbox@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      4 months ago

      There’s already very effective medicine available in the west to treat and prevent HIV/AIDS, we call it PrEP.

      • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        4 months ago

        This is more effective than prep and easier, because you only need a shot every 6 months. The testing for this new shit involved using prep for the control group.

        The new medicine worked so well they stopped the trial and gave the control group the shot. No one with the shot got sick at all. If they had continued with the control group, a few of them would have gotten AIDS.

    • iorale@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      4 months ago

      You missed my point tho, this vaccine will be a must for everyone and extremely helpful, but it won’t protect people from the rest of the STD nor pregnancy, this means people would still need to wear a condom but I firmly believe most people will just go and say «I already got my shot» and completely disregard the condom.

      • Diplomjodler@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        4 months ago

        Most other STDs are curable with antibiotics. And there’s contraceptives. AIDS was always something different, even after it was treatable.

        • iorale@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          4 months ago

          Cool, still missing my point (either maliciously or not).

          Lemme spell it out, idiots are going to try to disregard the use of condoms using the vaccine as an excuse. It doesn’t matter if other STD can be cured, it’s always best to not get infected at all; if someone isn’t ready to have a kid, they still have to wear a condom.

          Wear a condom anyway, unless actively trying for a kid.