AIDS 1989, 3: 310-1
Abstract: It has been recently advocated that avoiding partners who may be at high risk of carrying HIV provides 5000-fold better protection against HIV infection than usage of condoms [1]. In this paper,, it is demonstrated that this guideline is largely based on unrealistic assumptions. If the sensitivity of identifying high-risk partners, realistic estimates of the efficiency of mechanical and chemical barrier methods, and the compliance in following either strategy are taken into account, use of condoms and/or suppositories containing nonoxynol-9 might be more effective than the attempt to avoid high-risk partners. Thus, both barrier methods should be strongly recommended for casual sexual heterosexual contacts.
Keywords: HIV, AIDS, prevention, condoms, nonoxynol-9
Sponsorship: Part of this research was supported by NIH International Research Fellowship FOTW040 87
Requests for reprints to: Knut M. Wittkowski, Department of Medical Biometry, Eberhard-Karls-University, Westbahnhofstr. 55, D-72070 Tübingen, Germany, kmw@uni-tuebingen.de; current address(until 96-09-30): Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 2G1 (Address update: 96-06-20)
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