Today at a conference in South Africa, an Australian scientist
will present a report on how lemon or lime juice may help prevent the spread
of HIV in developing countries. Roger Short, a University of Melbourne reproductive
physiologist, told Australian TV he came up with the idea after chatting with
some elderly women about lo-fi home contraceptive technologies of yesteryear.
Field trials are reportedly planned in Thailand.
Here's a snip from the program's transcript:
ROGER SHORT: When the lecture was over, 10 or 15 of these women came up to
me, one by hand, put their hand on my shoulder and said, "(inaudible)
my dear, I used half a lemon. It was all right for me".NEWSCASTER: But it wasn't until late last year that Professor Short put two
and two together. Not only is lemon juice a contraceptive, it's acidic and
acids are known to kill the AIDS virus.ROGER SHORT: I thought, my golly! Lemon juice. That would kill HIV. Why haven't
I looked? So I dashed back to Melbourne and said to my PhD students, "Look,
drop everything. This could be crazy, but it could be incredibly exciting".Put
a cover on it….Well, this is the acid test. Here's some fresh human sperm
and some fresh lemon juice, and we're going to look at it under the microscope.NEWSCASTER: Seconds after adding the lemon juice, it's all over for the sperm.
ROGER SHORT: Have a look at that. God! It's a graveyard.
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