The study found the gel also reduced the risk of genital herpes by 51 percent.
These include adult diseases, such as genital herpes, which give vaccine firms access to a lucrative private market.
Diseases such as antibiotic-resistant hospital infections and genital herpes have become hot targets.
The study included 498 adults with healthy immune systems who had a diagnosis of genital herpes or who tested positive for HSV-2.
Then, two months ago, the NIAID signed another agreement to fund clinical trials of VivaGel aimed to study its application for genital herpes prevention.
Earlier this month, Starpharma announced that animal studies at Johns Hopkins University showed that besides preventing HIV and genital herpes, VivaGel may be a potent contraceptive as well.
Cantab Pharmaceuticals, a British biotechnology firm, has a genetically engineered vaccine now in clinical trials to protect against herpes simplex infection and reduce the recurrence of genital herpes.
Even without the contraceptive bonus, VivaGel would be attractive to large potential markets such as the 38.6 million people worldwide infected with HIV or the one out of every five Americans that has genital herpes.
On the bright side, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered a strategy for preventing infections due to herpes simplex viruses (herpes simplex virus 2, the virus that causes genital herpes, and herpes simplex virus 1).
FORBES: For Many, Herpes May Cause Memory Loss Along with Cold Sores
Overall, circumcision reduced the men's risk of genital herpes by 28 percent (10.3 percent of uncircumcised men developed genital herpes compared with 7.8 percent of circumcised men) and HPV infection by 35 percent (27.8 percent of uncircumcised men were infected with HPV compared with 18 percent of circumcised men).
Glaxo Wellcome says that, since television ads for its genital-herpes treatment, Valtrex, started late last year, it has received 600, 000 calls, many from people not even registered with a doctor.
The app screens for STDs that result in physical symptoms such as syphilis, herpes and genital warts.
It had high hopes for Vistide, a drug to treat herpes, genital warts and a retina-destroying virus in late-stage AIDS patients.
Tests on animals suggest that the substance may offer similar protection against other venereal diseases, including herpes, gonorrhoea and genital warts.
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