HIV Treatment Is Showing Promising Results

During the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle, one of the most interesting pieces of news came from two studies of pre-exposure prophylaxis and how it can affect the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

These two studies of gay men and transgender women found that these people who used pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) lowered the number of people getting HIV by 86 percent. PrEP helps prevent HIV from taking hold in a person’s body if they have been exposed to the virus.

“This is very exciting news in that it provides very encouraging data that HIV infection can be prevented with as few as three days of medications around the time you have sex,” David Rosenthal, DO, medical director of the Center for Young Adult, Adolescent and Pediatric HIV, said. “Of course, using condoms to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases remains the best way to prevent HIV, but these new findings provide new ways to decrease the risk of HIV… In my practice at the North Shore-LIJ Center for Young Adult, Adolescent and Pediatric HIV, I have seen a ten-fold increase in patients who are taking PrEP as a key element of an HIV prevention strategy. Patients need to be informed about HIV prevention and the benefits that PrEP can offer them.”