Thank you for your responses. I realise that too much information can turn people away from reading a thread, which is why “ prevention … by drugs “ was only mentioned once. People don’t like taking medicines, especially if they have no symptoms – although statins ( for raised cholesterol ) and drugs for high blood pressure are widely prescribed.
The idea of taking drugs to protect uninfected people against HIV is new, and – considering less than half of people positive for HIV actually take drugs for various reasons – controversial. However, the FDA ( U.S. Food and Drug Administration ) has just approved “ Truvada “ – a once –a-day, one-pill combination of two drugs – to help people at high risk to avoid infection with HIV ( http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsro.../ucm312210.htm ).
This is called pre-exposure prophylaxis ( PreP ) - which may work particularly in two groups :-
• heterosexual couples in which only one is HIV positive , and
• HIV negative men having high risk sex with men.
In the real world, it’s not known whether people taking this drug will also take more risks – like sex without condoms, or having multiple sex partners. They might also not take the pill every day, running the risk of drug resistance and new infections. As always, cost is a major consideration. “ Truvada “ costs over $1000 a month for each person. A newer drug, combining “Truvada “ with another drug in one pill a day, costs about $ 25,000 per HIV positive patient, per year. The “ business of HIV “ is covered in The Economist ( http://www.economist.com/node/21556275 ) from last month. It concludes :- “ Meanwhile, the world waits for a cure “ . I could add “ and also a vaccine “.
