In January of 1997, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released the article 'Background on the Carey Study'. This article, comments on the results of a condom stress testing study which was often cited as the source for the misinterpretation that condoms are ineffective in preventing the transmission of the HIV virus. In fact, the study showed that even under extreme laboratory conditions, that condoms were still of great use in inhibiting the transmission of the HIV virus.
Over the years, many of the resources that were available online in the late 1990's seem to have disappeared. For example, 'Background on the Carey Study' is no longer available on the NIH website. It will show up in search results, but those links are 404.
Even try searching for "Background on the Carey Study" on Google. I get four hits. Just four. One article that cites it, and 3 404s. It's a short article, so here it is in its entirety:
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Background on the Carey Study
http://aidsinfo.nih.gov/aprs/aprs_press.asp?an=A00347
Accession Number
A00347
Author
US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Source
CDC Update
Release Date
January 1, 1997
Major Descriptors
Condoms
Disease prevention
Sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs)
Studies
Transmission
Topic
Clinical Trials and Research
Prevention
Text
Numerous studies have shown that latex condoms are a highly effective barrier to viruses, including HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and the much-smaller hepatitis B virus. However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continue to receive inquiries about a laboratory study of latex condoms, commonly called "the Carey study." [Carey, R.F., Herman, W.A., Retta, S.M., Rinaldi, J.E., Herman, B.A., and Athey, T.W. Effectiveness of Latex Condoms As a Barrier to Human Immunodeficiency Virus-sized Particles Under Conditions of Simulated Use. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, July-August 1992, pages 230-234.] This study examined the effectiveness of latex condoms as a barrier to particles the size of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
In the Carey study, latex condoms were tested under laboratory conditions that matched some circumstances of actual use: the condoms' size and shape were standard and test particles inside the condoms were the size of HIV. But other conditions were deliberately exaggerated: the particle concentration was much higher than the concentration of HIV in semen, the test itself lasted 30 minutes, the pressure inside the condom was always at the maximum expected during use (as opposed to intermittently at the maximum), and the fluid was 14 times less viscous (thinner, and therefore easier to pass) than semen. These exaggerated conditions were used to push condoms toward failure, to find out the limits of their performance.
The results were clear: The condoms in this study would reduce exposure to HIV by at least 10,000 times. Even under these extreme laboratory-created conditions, only 1 of the 89 condoms tested leaked enough to allow passage of a small amount of virus during actual use -- and even that worst-case condom would have still reduced exposure to HIV by more than 1,000 times over not using a condom at all.
These laboratory tests have been misinterpreted as proving condoms don't work as a protective device against HIV transmission. The truth is, the tests proved that condoms work exceptionally well.
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Retrieved: 8/20/2004.
