PrEP For HIV
Most commonly, the term pre-exposure prophylaxis refers to an experimental HIV-prevention strategy that would use antiretrovirals to protect HIV-negative people from HIV infection. Along with AIDS vaccines and microbicides, PrEP is one of the HIV prevention strategies being tested in clinical trials today. With an estimated 39.5 million people living with HIV worldwide and 4.3 million new infections per year, many people are at risk for HIV infection through sexual transmission, and therefore preemptive measures must be taken to prevent further dissemination. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) provides a promising prevention strategy for further HIV transmission.
Studies of PrEP strategies in non-human primates have shown a reduced risk of infection among animals that receive ARVs prior to exposure to a simian form of HIV. A 2007 study at UT-Southwestern (Dallas) and the University of Minnesota showed PrEP to be effective in "humanized" laboratory mice. Another rationale of PrEP comes from strategies to prevent mother-to-child transmission, which use ARVs given to the mother and the infant to help reduce the risk of transmission.
Read more about this topic: Pre-exposure Prophylaxis