A study conducted in Africa and published in the "New England Journal of Medicine" shows that women taking the medicine valacyclovir had less HIV in their blood. Valacyclovir is a drug used to treat herpes.

Many people with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus, the virus that causes AIDS) also have the herpes type 2 virus. Herpes sores on the genitalia will triple the chance of getting infected with HIV and of transmitting the virus to somebody else (we previously reported that circumcision lowers the risk of getting infected).

This is good news for doctors with poor patients. Many patients, especially those living in poor countries, can't afford AIDS medication. Also, the social shame associated with AIDS prevent people from buying AIDS medication.

This is also good news because a lower HIV count generally means a lower risk of infecting somebody else. In other words, valacyclovir may slow down the spread of AIDS. According to Excite News (where we found this news item), there are 40,000 new cases of HIV infection in the US each year. Worldwide, there are 4.3 million new cases.

However, it seems unlikely that valacyclovir will be used as "the first line of defense". There are better medicines available; but in poor countries, valacyclovir is something they could use.

The study was conducted by researchers from France, the United Kingdom, and Burkina Faso. It was funded by ANRS (Agence Nationale de Recherches sur le Sida), the French national AIDS research agency.

In other news, the b12 antibody may lead to an AIDS vaccine, and researchers continue to look for a genetic switch for HIV and herpes. Of course, all this work can only bear fruit if companies and foundations continue to donate funds (like the AIDS research and treatment foundation founded by Bill Gates).