Blogging About Critters Since 2007

Monday, May 24, 2010

Gross Monkey Experiment

Now this is pretty gross. I understand it's for HIV prevention, but still...testing a vaginal gel on monkeys. Disturbing.
The gel was applied vaginally to three pigtailed macaques twice a week for seven weeks. Thirty minutes after each gel application, the animals were exposed to SHIV, for a total of 14 "challenges." A fourth animal received a placebo gel in the same manner. Two of the three macaques receiving the active gel remained uninfected after seven weeks of being exposed to SHIV. The third macaque became infected after seven challenges, while the macaque that received a placebo gel became infected after the third exposure.

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