BEIJING, April 24(Xinhuanet) -- A safe and effective gel to allow women to protect themselves from the AIDS virus may be available by 2010 if trials involving thousands of women are successful, according to news from Microbicides 2006 Conference, Cape Town, South Africa, Monday.

    The conference, which is co-sponsored by the World Health Organisation, includes more than 1,000 scientists and researchers from around the world.

    Gita Ramjee, director of the HIV prevention research unit at South Africa's Medical Research Council, said that five separate clinical trials, involving 12,000 people in South Africa and thousands in other countries, were underway.

    Results should be ready in the next two years, she said, adding that microbicides - or vaginal gels - offered huge potential for stopping the epidemic, especially in societies where men were reluctant to use condoms.

    HIV infection is rising more rapidly among women than men in many parts of the world. Half of all adults living with the virus that causes AIDS are female, according to U.N. figures. Enditem  (Agencies)