Pill shows up to 70% drop in HIV infection risk (LA Times)

[pinto]

Pill shows up to 70% drop in HIV infection risk

The result is hailed as the first major AIDS prevention breakthrough. Research was conducted on 2,500 high-risk gay men, but experts believe further study will show effectiveness in other groups.

By Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times
November 23, 2010

In a finding that is being widely hailed as the first major prevention breakthrough in the AIDS era, researchers have shown that taking a single daily pill containing two HIV drugs can reduce risk of contracting the virus by an average of 44% — and by more than 70% if the subjects take most of their pills.

The study involved nearly 2,500 high-risk gay men, but experts hope that the results will be applicable to other populations considered at risk for contracting the virus. Several studies are already underway to determine if that is the case.

The findings, reported online Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, come only a few months after an African study showed that a microbicidal gel can help protect women from contracting the virus and a little more than a year after a vaccine trial suggested that it may eventually be possible to raise antibodies against the virus.

<snip>

The new strategy is called pre-exposure prophylaxis, and that is an approach that has been used successfully in certain other diseases. Malaria or tuberculosis drugs, for example, are frequently prescribed to people entering areas with high transmission rates. Antiretroviral drugs are also used to prevent transmission of HIV from mothers to infants during and after birth and in an effort to prevent infection after accidental exposure in hospitals and laboratories.

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-he-hiv-prevention-20101123,0,6076339.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fnews+%28L.A.+Times+-+Top+News%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo

[rfranklin]

1. Only 30% chance of infection!

Can I interest you in a game of Russian roulette?

[Ian David]

4. If you combine that with other risk-avoiding behavior, that makes a big difference.

For example, reducing your risk by 70% after a broken condom.

[defendandprotect]

2. k

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Bluenorthwest]

5. Slandering good people to get off is another perversion

You are calling Jeanine Garafalo and Keifer Sutherland customers of child prostitutes. Upon what do you base your reporting?
Vile bullshit, man, just the lowest possible form.

[Ian David]

6. Jeanine didn't go. It was a guys-only trip. n/t