I am not sure about this.

A paper due for publication this week in the journal Nature found that a combination of three drugs applied topically in monkeys prevented infection with a virus similar to the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS. The results are among the most promising to date in tests of this approach and point toward a prevention strategy that could save many lives.

This sounds good, but I wonder how practical it will be. If you are the type of woman who would willingly have sex with someone who may have AIDS and you are not sure, you might not have enough sense to use the product. If you are willingly having sex with someone you know has AIDS, will you trust the gel? If you are a woman in Africa, for example, who is unable to convince a man to use a condom, will you be able to delay sex long enough to use a vaginal gel? Maybe it will have some marginal benefit and I guess that makes it worthwhile to some extent.