A once-a-day pill for preventing infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS, has been effective in clinical trials, and new research suggests that it works in the real world, too.
In a study conducted at sexual health clinics, participants taking the pills for so-called preexposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, had only two new HIV infections,
although their rates of other sexually transmitted infections and condomless sex remained high, researchers found.
The initial trials found Truvada to be
more than 90 percent effective in preventing HIV infections among gay and bisexual men and transgender women who consistently took the pill, Liu and colleagues write in JAMA Internal Medicine.
At most of the clinics, HIV infection rates had been above 2 percent, but the infection rate for the new study was
lower than 0.5 percent, Liu told Reuters Health.
"I think the results of this study are very encouraging for the PrEP field, but we have much work to do," Liu said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...zABf1xP7K2f.97
Further reading:
http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/arti...icleid=2470593
