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G. Y. Minuk, MD; C. E. Bohme; T. J. Bowen, MD; D. I. Hoar, PhD; S. Cassol, PhD
University of Calgary Calgary, Alberta, Canada

JAMA. 1986;256(11):1443.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

In the April 4 issue of JAMA, Conant et al¹ indicate that commercial condoms, including those derived from sheep intestinal membranes (natural condoms), are effective in preventing the in vitro transmission of retrovirus infection.¹ Their conclusion is based on experiments in which condoms containing a solution of either mouse retrovirus or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-associated retrovirus were fit over the plunger of a 12-mL plastic syringe, reinserted inside syringe barrels, and submerged in a beaker containing sterile culture media. After repeated aspirations and expulsions the authors found the beaker culture media to be free of retrovirus. In a somewhat similar series of experiments addressing the issue of hepatitis B virus infection, we reported that, while synthetic condoms do indeed prevent leakage of iodine 125-labeled hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), natural condoms do not.²

There are a number of possible explanations for the apparent discrepancy between . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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