Considerable progress has been made in 1998 and 1999 with respect to animal models for HIV and other STDs. Further validation of this primate model and extrapolation of the experimental parameters to human use are needed before firm conclusions based on this model can be made. The results suggested a slight inhibition of chlamydia infection by only one of the tested agents. The impact of all three agents on vaginal microflora and inflammation was minimal. Meanwhile, new feasibility studies are underway to test other models that may be cheaper, more validated, and more useable than the monkey models.
Studies continue to confirm in vitro anti-HIV activity of promising agents.
The viral-binding inhibition assay is now more specific for this stage of infection, and work will begin on incorporating additional assays. The objectives of a feasibility study at Brigham and Women's Hospital are to investigate the effect of various steroids, including progestins and antiprogestins, on the function of the immune cells, and how this may relate to STD infection. Paulo and at Brigham and Women's Hospital are testing whether antimicrobial vaginal preparations under development are able to inactivate HIV shed vaginally by HIV-positive Brazilian women. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University, Chiang Mai University, and CDC collaborated to evaluate factors such as contraceptive practices, types and frequency of sexual contact, STDs, immune status, and HIV clade. More than 624 couples were enrolled in an attempt to separate factors associated with infectiousness from those associated with susceptibility.