Yogurts May Fend off AIDS

Brown University in the US reports that its team of researchers may have discovered a remedy to arrest the spread of AIDS by sexual transmission.

The basis of the new technology is bacteria used to make yogurt and cheese. Earlier, researchers had discovered a protein called cynovirin that has a unique property of blocking the AIDS virus from entering human cells. Using methods of gene engineering, the researchers implanted cynovirin into lactic acid bacteria used to curdle milk and make fermented foods such as yogurt and cheese. The resultant cynovirin-carrying bacteria can be used to produce creams capable of preventing infection with AIDS - the "twentieth century plague". For example, they can be applied before a sexual act.

According to the data of the World Health Organization, the HIV/AIDS epidemic has already claimed 25 million human lives. In 2005 there were about 40.2 million people carrying HIV virus and about 4.9 million got infected with AIDS. In most cases the deadly virus is transmitted through sex.