In Philadelphia, around 90 patients are receiving PrEP from the four health centers that are part of the city’s PrEP program, said James Garrow, director of digital public health for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, in an email to Healthline.
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Ferrusi said he is HIV-negative and would like to stay that way. Now there is a new weapon in the fight against the spread of HIV as researchers show taking a pill before and after sex can help reduce the chance of infection drastically. Some doctors and politicians have hailed the antiretroviral drug, known as PrEP, as a key to ending the AIDS epidemic.
Helpful or harmful? A drug that you can take before and after sex can help people cut their risk of HIV infection. “I’m having a good time and being a good person – and that comes with a risk sometimes”.
Still, like many others, Ferrusi is grappling with a decision to take the drug as a preventive.
More than 26,000 people are thought to be living with HIV in Australia, with 1236 new infections diagnosed in 2013.
Truvada, which is a preventative medication, drastically cuts the chances of someone acquiring HIV-related infections.
More than 3500 people, mainly gay and bisexual men, will get access to the HIV prevention drug – up from 300 – as part of the EPIC-NSW trial (Expanded PrEP Implementation in Communities) to be led by researchers from the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales. The state’s HIV community has welcomed the move.
“The current process for getting PrEP approved by the TGA is moving at a glacial pace”.
Altogether, experts estimate that the total number of people using PrEP in the USA may reach at least 25,000.
“PrEP is more effective then condoms”.
While this is just a snapshot of PrEP use, said McKeel, “there was a 332 percent increase in the number of unique individuals that started Truvada for PrEP in the United States between first quarter of 2014 to the first quarter of 2015”. Adherence to medication instructions was actually a problem throughout the study, with 29 percent of participants taking pills less often than they should have and another 28 percent not taking any pills at all. For men who had long considered condoms a life-saving measure, any excuse not to wear them felt irresponsible and risky.
It has been hard to get a handle on how many people have used PrEP to date, since no one centrally collects this information. Without insurance, the drug can run about $1,500 per month.
PrEP medication can be purchased privately at a cost of $1000 a month, and some people are buying generic versions of Truvada online at a cost of about $100 a month. “I know that personally when I’ve had to take an antibiotic for 10 days, I’m sure I’m taking it the way I’m supposed to be, and yet I wind up with a bunch of pills in the bottle at the end”.
“We’re not saying it’s better, but it’s another option for those who can not take it everyday or don’t want to take it daily”.
Nicoara said he was initially skeptical about the drug and its side effects, which are mild and can include an upset stomach and a loss of appetite.
During the course of the study, some of the at-risk participants did contract HIV.
“There’s something, to me, cowardly about taking Truvada instead of using a condom”, Kramer told the Times. “Why wouldn’t you take it?” She calls that a “psychological tragedy”.
“Once again NSW is setting the agenda for what an effective contemporary HIV response looks like”, said ACON CEO Nicholas Parkhill.
In many other aspects of HIV prevention, Western countries have embraced “harm reduction”, in other words, accepting risky behaviours cannot always be prevented but can be mitigated.
“We know PreP works now”. Ahead are groups of women for whom PrEP could be especially life-changing. Those with sex addictions will certainly benefit and I can see this as a population we can protect.
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The trial, announced on World Aids day, aims to reduce new HIV infections to half the present rate in New South Wales within two years, and to virtually eliminate HIV transmission by 2020.
