New Liquid Condom In the Works

There is a new type of condom that could soon be on the market. This is a condom that begins as a liquid. Like the gels and lubricants used during sexual encounters, this liquid could be administered in the same way. When the condom comes into contact with another surface – that of the woman – it solidifies and becomes a protective condom.
Not only that, but this is a smart condom. It stays liquid until there is the presence of something else – something that it has been designed to kill. When semen is present, the condom goes back to being liquid, and releases a substance that kills the semen. Antiviral chemicals are released, the semen is killed, along with anything else that might be present – such as the HIV virus.
It is called a molecular condom, and it is in the works at the University of Utah. Another name for this invention, according to researchers, is Microbicide. In short, microbicides are chemicals that are applied to the vaginal area in order to protect against HIV and other diseases. These chemicals have been in development for almost twenty years. Yet this one is different. It isn’t simply a chemical that you can apply in order to protect yourself. It is actually a condom that begins as a liquid, changes to a solid, and goes back to being a liquid when it is actually needed.
The condom would be applied in the liquid form by the woman prior to having sex. As the temperature rises, the liquid solidifies, and turns into a solid barrier to protect her. The tissues would be coated by this barrier. It would stay solid until semen was present. At this time, the less-acidic semen would melt the solid gel, and release anti HIV chemicals that would kill any strains of that virus before they reached the woman.
The downfall to this type of condom is that what is currently being developed is only used to fight HIV. The actual semen would still be alive, and therefore would still be able to cause pregnancy in the woman. However, if this type of condom is used and is popular, researchers say that they could also work on a condom that works in the same way but also has a protection against pregnancy. They would be able to put a contraceptive into the gel, and allow it to be delivered in the same way that the anti-viral drugs are delivered.
This brand new research isn’t really that new. The gels and other types of chemicals that have been used to counter the HIV strains have been being developed for a long time. It is just recently that the notion has come to light of having them act as a condom-type barrier at the same time. The gel that is currently being developed is also something spectacular, because it could be a gel that is applied to a woman once, and lasts for several days at a time. This could lead to it being much easier to use, and much more effective in the fight against HIV.