[Condom: its role in the prevention of AIDS]

Since no effective vaccination is available, protection is our only arm against the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus. For public health officials and associations working against the spread of AIDS, the contraceptive is the ultimate arm and only generalized use will change the course of the pandemia. But because the disease continues to advance regularly it would appear necessary to have a second look at the official position. Actually, there are two sides to the contraceptive picture: 1. a real factor of protection for the healthy man who uses it, 2. a source of possible contamination of a healthy partner by a seropositive man who uses the contraceptive. The user cannot put the contraceptive on without touching his sexual organs which have been humidified by the pre-ejaculatory secretions which are rich in HIV and which are secreted long before complete erection allows him to install the contraceptive correctly. The result is that the inside surface of the contraceptive will always be more or less contaminated. There is therefore a major risk of contamination in certain situations, particularly for the virgin woman, before her first sexual intercourse, since an open wound is created by the rupture of the hymen. If we truly expect to eradicate this disease, the message will have to be changed.