Facts About Post Exposure Prophylaxis

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Get the Facts

Treatment After Exposure to HIV

What Is Post-Exposure Prophylaxis? Prophylaxis means disease prevention. Post-exposure prophylaxis (or PEP) means taking antiretroviral medications (ARVs) as soon as possible after exposure to HIV, so that the exposure will not result in HIV infection. These medications are only available with a prescription. PEP should begin as soon as possible after exposure to HIV, but certainly within 72 hours. Treatment with 2 or 3 ARVs should continue...

Ask the Experts

Post exposure prophylaxis after a patient tests negative

Mr. SowadskyI am an RN working in Canada.Yesterday I was accidentally pricked by a syringe after having given an intramuscular injection.Afew hours after I had a baseline blood draw for HAG,HAB,HCA and HIV.The patient whose needle I was stuck by...

Response from Rick Sowadsky, M.P.H.

Nevada State Health Division AIDS Program

Thank you for your question. Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) is recommended for significant occupational exposures to the blood of patients known to have HIV, or known to be at high risk for HIV. In a situation such as yours, the decision to... Read more »

Post exposure prophylaxis?

Yesterday I meet a guy at a party, we were both very drunk and ended up having sex. It all happened very quickly, I am HIV +ve (VL undetectable 5 yrs, CD4 800) but somehow I did not get a change to disclose my status to him. We didnt have any...

Response from Ryan M. Kull, C.S.W

Columbia University's Health & Related Services

This sounds like a complicated situation for you, and it's encouraging that you are thinking about what happened and how you might proceed. Having TOTALLY safe sex is difficult regardless of your HIV status, and you took some steps to minimize your... Read more »

No sleep from 2 days! (NON-OCCUPATIONAL POST EXPOSURE PROPHYLAXIS)

Hello Dr. Frascino,I am a 26 yr old male from Tulsa, Oklahoma. I had unprotected viginal sex 2 days before with an unknown girl. I have been loyal to my girl friend till now. I don't know the HIV status of that girl, but she accepted that she...

Response from Robert J. Frascino, M.D.

The Robert James Frascino AIDS Foundation

Hey Tulsa Guy,Your nearby "hopspital" has no clue what PEP is??? YIKES! That's shocking even for a square red state in the middle of the country!I doubt an HIV-knowledgeable physician would recommend a course of PEP for the type of risk you took... Read more »

hiv exposure, post exposure prophylaxis and rash

hello,i'm a resident physician and was recently exposed to an HIV infected pt. i sustained a superficial laceration from trauma shears contaminated with dried blood that was several hours old but i started expanded pep nonetheless. 2 days...

Response from Keith Henry, M.D.

University of Minnesota, School of Medicine

Most likely a drug rash but the situation is stressful (I have seen numerous drug rashes on situations like yours). KH... Read more »

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Articles

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Will I? Won't I? Why Do Men Who Have Sex With Men Present for Post-Exposure Prophylaxis for Sexual Exposures?

"Failures of post-exposure prophylaxis following sexual exposure (PEPSE) to prevent seroconversion have been reported and are often associated with ongoing risk exposure," the authors wrote. "Understanding why men who have sex with men (MSM) access... Read more »

Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) for Sexual Exposures

Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is a type of antiviral therapy for HIV designed to reduce (but not eliminate) the possibility of infection with the virus after a known exposure. Currently, PEP is primarily intended for the prevention of infection... Read more »

TDF2 Study of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Among Heterosexual Men and Women in Botswana: Key Facts

Overview Daily oral PrEP with a tablet containing tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and emtricitabine (TDF/FTC, known by the brand name Truvada®) was found to reduce the risk of acquiring HIV infection by roughly 63 percent in the study population... Read more »

New Frontiers in HIV Prevention: Male Circumcision and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis in the United States -- An Interview at CROI 2007 With Patrick Sullivan, Ph.D., and Lynn Paxton, M.D., M.P.H.

Listen (8.3MB MP3, 20 min.) I'm here at CROI 2007 with Lynn Paxton and Patrick Sullivan, epidemiologists with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . We're here talking about the research that's been presented at this conference... Read more »

Connect With Others

Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) - Help

Posted by MF2010

Hi all,

I've been exposed to HIV in the beginning of this month.
My condom completely broke and i had sex for a couple of minutes completely exposed. I suspect my partner was HIV infected.

Went straight to the hospital and started Post-Exposure... Read more »

exposure 10 days ago--prophylaxis drug an option?

Posted by Anonymous, 2 Replies

I'm happily married and monogamous for the past 10 years. Ten days ago 5 minutes of drunken stupidity could have changed all that.

I had gone to a strip club (which is a rarity for me). I got way too drunk and stupid, and got a lap dance. The... Read more »

I'm trying not to scare anyone, but facts are fact

Posted by Anonymous, 6 Replies

In fact I'm not trying to scare anyone, and I don't want to make a kid's game out of the Bulletin Board. I'm just trying to make everyone realize that 99,9% of people doesn't cover all individuals, when talking about tests... I'm sure that 999 of... Read more »

Exposure Facts

Posted by Anonymous

To whom it may concern:

Infectivity of organisms (HIV included) follow two pathogenic forms: Virus or Bacteria. Antibiotics can be used to kill bacterial organisms in or on your body. They do this by attacking the very organism itself. Overfeeding... Read more »

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