The group involved with Professor Roger Short referred to themselves as the LemonAIDS…but no longer exists.

It was a loose informal group under the chairmanship of Dr Rob Moodie, the then Chief Executive Officer of VicHealth.

The first priority was to see if lemon juice could inactivate HIV in the ejaculates of HIV-positive men. This work was being done under the direction of Professor Susanne Crowe of the Burnet Institute in Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital.

Questions:

Could the low pH exert a similar microbicidal effect on other bacterial or viral sexually transmitted diseases? Or does the low pH make the vagina more susceptible to infections? This is a task for the future.

Dr Rob Moodie -VicHealth

Future Directions

If the above laboratory research confirms the potential safety and efficacy of intravaginal lemon or lime juice as a contraceptive and as an anti-HIV microbicide, it will be necessary to progress to clinical trials.

We must complete the primate studies on the effects of repeated lime juice administration on the cervical and vaginal epithelium to demonstrate the absence of any toxicity, and we must establish that lemon juice can kill HIV in the semen of HIV positive men.

If successful, we then need to study the effect of lemon juice on the vaginal microflora, and on other sexually transmitted diseases.

In parallel with this, we need to identify collaborators in developing countries who might be able to carry out acceptability studies of intra-vaginal lemon juice, to pave the way for subsequent clinical trials of its contraceptive efficacy and anti-HIV microbicidal activity.

Professor Roger Short

However, these must await laboratory findings confirming that the approach is likely to be safe and effective.

Scott McCoombe