DURBAN, South Africa -- A south African medical school will next week start clinical trials for a new non-invasive treatment for HIV/AIDS, the University of Natal in the eastern port city of Durban announced Thursday.

The Nelson Mandela Medical School will recruit 360 HIV patients to participate in trials for the treatment which involves the use of electro-magnetic technology, the SAPA news agency reported.

Professor Umesh Lalloo, head of the Medical Department, said the electro-magnetic treatment involved a device that emitted radio frequencies in the spectrum of mobile telephone emissions.

"The patient would sit in a room for some time absorbing these emissions. Tests would then be done to determine the effect it had on the person.

"We anticipate that the treatment would disrupt the virus and stop it replicating," Lalloo said.

The treatment was created by Russian scientists but has not been tested in a controlled scientific environment.

The medical school had secured funding totaling three million dollars to finance the trials which are expected to be completed by the end of the year. South Africa has one of the highest AIDS rates in the world, with five million infected people in a population of 44 million. (AFP)