Condoms are slowing HIV spread in South Africa

CONDOMS are to thank for falling HIV infection rates in South Africa.

So say Leigh Johnson at the University of Cape Town and colleagues. They fed data from 2000 to 2008 on the country's HIV rates, condom use and the number of people taking antiretroviral therapy (ARTs) - which reduce the chances of passing on the virus - into two computer models of viral transmission and prevalence.

Condom use accounted for the vast majority of the decline in HIV, with only up to 17 per cent due to the natural dynamics of the disease, and up to 10 per cent down to the use of ARTs (Journal of the Royal Society Interface, DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2011.0826).

David Wilson at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, says the results highlight that condoms are "the most effective" way to protect against HIV epidemics. Johnson emphasises that all prevention and treatment programmes should be intensified.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

Have your say

Only subscribers may leave comments on this article. Please log in.

Only personal subscribers may leave comments on this article

Subscribe now to comment.

All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.

If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/1bec9d7b/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg213284830B40A0A0Econdoms0Eare0Eslowing0Ehiv0Espread0Ein0Esouth0Eafrica0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

gurkha cobra starship cobra starship blue whale melissa joan hart sylvia plath def leppard