This Is the Best Way to Prevent HIV, Expert Group Says

While there is no vaccine yet to protect against HIV, doctors have an effective drug to prevent HIV infection. After impressive studies overseas and in the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration approved Truvada, a combination of anti-HIV drugs, in 2012 as the first medication that can prevent healthy people from getting infected with HIV by up to 90%. Now, for the first time, a group of independent experts convened by the government, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), is recommending that people at high risk of acquiring HIV infection be prescribed the drug, also known as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). The group also recommends that all teens and adults ages 15 to 65, as well as pregnant women, be screened for HIV. The recommendation supports current guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in place since 2014, which advises doctors to prescribe PrEP to people who are not yet infected with HIV but are at high risk of infection. Yet for years after the drug was approved, lack of awareness of its existence, mistrust of its effectiveness and discomfort by doctors in prescribing it initially contributed to slow uptake. That may change with the USPSTF advice, which many professional organizations follow. The task force analyzed all the available evidence on the subject, including several large studies looking at specific groups of people at high risk of infection — gay men, transgender women and heterosexual couples in which one partne...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized hiv-aids Source Type: news