Spermicide Nonoxynol-9 for Preventing Vaginal Acquisition of HIV Infection
Spermicide nonoxynol-9 is not effective in for preventing vaginal acquisition of HIV infection and it may do harm by increasing the frequency of genital lesions. Level of evidence: "A"A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 5 studies with more than 3 000 subjects. Overall, the risk of HIV infection was not statistically significantly different among women receiving N-9 (relative risk [RR] 1.12, 95% CI 0.88 to 1.42). The risk of genital lesions was statistically significantly greater among women receiving N-9 (RR 1.18, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.36).
References
- Wilkinson D, Ramjee G, Tholandi M, Rutherford G. Nonoxynol-9 for preventing vaginal acquisition of HIV infection by women from men. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2002;(4):CD003936. [PubMed]