Diaphragms don't help prevent HIV

Using diaphragms in addition to condoms provides no extra protection against the AIDS virus, researchers reported Friday in the journal Lancet.

Researchers gave 5,045 women in South Africa and Zimbabwe an HIV-prevention package that included condoms; some received diaphragms as well. But the incidence of the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS was the same in both groups, around 4%.

The hope was that diaphragms would give women extra protection against the virus, especially since so many men are reluctant to use condoms.