HealthDay News – Patients at high risk for contracting HIV should take anti-HIV medications to cut transmission risk, according to new guidelines from the CDC.
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has been shown to reduce HIV infection rates in prior studies by as much as 90%, when used consistently. PrEP should be considered for the following high-risk individuals:
- Patients who have an ongoing sexual relationship with an HIV-infected partner
- Patients who have sex without a condom or has been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection within the past six months, and are not in a mutually monogamous relationship with a partner who recently tested HIV-negative
- Patients who do not always use condoms when having sex with partners known to be at risk for HIV (for example, injecting drug users or bisexual male partners of unknown HIV status), and is not in a mutually-monogamous relationship with a partner who recently tested HIV-negative
- Patients who have, within the past six months, injected illicit drugs and shared equipment or been in a treatment program for injection drug use
“HIV infection is preventable, yet every year we see some 50,000 new HIV infections in the United States,” said CDC director Tom Frieden, MD, in a news release. “PrEP, used along with other prevention strategies, has the potential to help at-risk individuals protect themselves and reduce new HIV infections in the United States.”
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