A team of bioengineers have developed a dissolvable tampon that will deliver medication preventing HIV minutes before the user has sex.
In a study published in a journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, researchers from the University of Washington explained how the ‘tampon’ could be used to prevent pregnancy, as well as other STIs.
According to The Huffington Post:
‘ Researchers combined silky, electrically spun fibers with maraviroc — a drug currently approved to help treat HIV infections that may also prevent healthy people from acquiring the virus. Within minutes of coming into contact with moisture, the fibers dissolve, releasing a high dose of the medication.’
Cameron Ball, lead author on the paper and a doctoral student at the University of Washington said:
“We envision a product that could dissolve, pretty much instantaneously, into a gel and then spread around the vagina during sex.”
Despite the advances in the medical treatment, the tampon devices are still in their prototype and testing phase and it could be another 10 years before the product is available for sale.
