By DPA
Johannesburg : The search for a new means of protection for women against HIV infection has been dealt a fresh blow after a study on the diaphragm conducted in South Africa and Zimbabwe found it offered no extra protection against the virus, it emerged Friday.
The results of the study, carried out among nearly 5,000 women, were published in the online version of the British medical journal The Lancet.
Over the course of the two-year study, 158 out of 2,472 women provided with diaphragms and condoms became infected with the HIV virus that causes AIDS, the results showed.
Of the 2,476 women only given condoms 151 became infected.
The slightly higher number of infections in the group given diaphragms was thought to be possibly linked to the failure by some participants to use condoms.
Scientists had hoped that women who battle with their partners to get them to wear condoms might have received protection from diaphragms, which cover vulnerable cells in the cervix. In Africa, men often resist wearing condoms, putting women at risk.
The study results follow the suspension earlier this year of trials of a microbicide gel that had also been billed as a possible protection for women against HIV/AIDS.
The trials in Asia and Africa were halted in February at an advanced stage after it was found that an active ingredient in the microbicides increased rather than decreased the risk of HIV infection.