Don’t want to wear a condom, but also don’t want to contract an STI? How about just smearing some cow mucus down there?
Researchers in Europe say they’ve created a gel based on “bovine submaxillary (lower jaw) mucins” which can “reduce human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and genital herpes virus type 2 (HSV-2) infectivity for various types of cells”.
How much? By 70% for HIV and 80% for herpes.
“Mucus is a self‐healing gel that lubricates the moist epithelium and provides protection against viruses by binding to viruses smaller than the gel’s mesh size and removing them from the mucosal surface by active mucus turnover,” the researchers said in the paper, published in Advanced Science last week.
More than 1 million people contract STIs every year, the researchers said, many of them spread asymptomatically.
“HIV-1/AIDS remains one the most serious global epidemic despite massive investments and investigation into its containment.”
The advantage the cow mucus has is it doesn’t seem to trigger side effects or increase viral resistance.
And it works for both straight and gay sex, lead researcher Hongji Yan said.
“Taken together, we developed a gel-based lubricant that has significant potential use for the prophylaxis of individuals exposed to HIV-1 and/or HSV-2.”
