Friendly mouth bacteria could block HIV
12:42 26 May 04
NewScientist.com news service
Bacteria naturally present in our mouths could stop newborn babies from contracting HIV via their mother's milk.
Although the treatment has not yet been tested in animals or people, the US researchers developing the treatment expect few side effects because the bugs are harmless.
They also hope it will work on future variants of the HIV virus because it does not rely on the bacteria recognising viral coat proteins which are known to mutate frequently. "This technique will block all HIV that we know of," says Lim Tao, who led the team at the University of Illinois in Chicago.
About one in five babies born to HIV-positive mothers acquire the disease via her milk. This route is responsible for the majority of the 800,000 infant infections per year globally.
Article: http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99995041