First Microbicide Conference, March 13-16 near Washington D.C.

Microbicides 2000, the first major conference focused on microbicides for HIV prevention, will be held March 13-16 at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center, in Alexandria, Virginia, near Washington D.C. Information is available on the Web at http://www.nih.gov/od/oar/; or contact Microbicides 2000, 7101 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 1300, Bethesda, MD 20814, phone 301-986-4870, fax 301-913-0351. (Call to make sure space is available, since pre-registration has closed and the conference is almost full as of March 1.)

Microbicides, currently experimental, could be particularly important in developing countries by providing a woman-controlled method of preventing HIV transmission; some may be able to stop HIV while allowing conception. Microbicides might also be used by gay men. Currently about 50 microbicides are being developed, and several first-generation candidates are in phase III trials.

An excellent article on the background and current status of microbicides, "The Jelly Revolution" by Deb Schwartz, appears in the March 2000 POZ magazine, pages 47-49. POZ is also available at http://www.thebody.com/poz/pozix.html