What is Post-Exposure Prevention (PEP)?
There is still no cure for AIDS. Prevention remains the most effective way to halt the epidemic. The best way to avoid HIV infection is to avoid exposure in the first place through sexual abstinence, having only uninfected sex partners, consistent condom use, injection drug use abstinence, and consistent use of sterile injection equipment.
However, recently we have learned a lot about treating HIV and understanding the progression of HIV disease. Protease inhibitors used in combination with other HIV drugs have been extremely effective in reducing the levels of HIV in the blood and restoring health to many patients. For HIV-uninfected persons who are exposed to HIV, there may be a window of opportunity in the first few hours or days after exposure in which these highly active drugs may prevent HIV infection.
A study of health care workers showed that treatment with AZT after needlestick exposure to HIV-infected blood, reduce the odds of HIV infection by 81 percent.
No one knows if PEP really works. The idea of providing potent anti-HIV drugs to prevent infections makes sense biologically, but some people believe the study of health care workers and AZT is no definitive, and there have been no studies on PEP for sexual or injection exposure. The potency of the new anti-HIV drugs, however, is a compelling, if unproven, reason to offer PEP treatment after exposure to a life threatening disease.
What Are Disadvantages of PEP?
Many medical experts fear that people will turn to PEP, rather than practicing safe sex, to prevent infection. Health care professionals fear that repeated PEP treatment could actually be toxic.
Misuse of PEP drug therapies may cause development of a resistant strain of HIV. New anti-HIV drugs may not be completely effective for treating that person.
PEP therapies can be expensive and complicated. Side effects can be severe and the long term effects are unknown.
Source: Center for AIDS Prevention Studies at the University of California, San Francisco
