Hunt revives for anti-HIV gel after breakthrough tests on monkeys.

(From Agence France Presse)

The quest for a gel that can kill the AIDS virus, offering protection to women and homosexuals exposed to HIV-infected sperm, has suddenly revived after tests showed it worked with monkeys.

The idea of a barrier cream that can destroy the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has gripped experts for the last two decades, offering the hope of simple, cheap protection for vaginal and anal sex in the absence of an AIDS vaccine.

But relatively little money has been invested in this line of research -- and the only candidate gel, an over-the-counter spermicide called nonoxynol-9, proved horrifyingly to be worse than useful.…