June 27 is National HIV Testing Day, and in San Diego County, one in ten people who are infected with HIV are not aware of it, according to the County Health and Human Services Agency.
Pre-Exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), the use of taking prescription drugs to help people avoid HIV infection, can reduce a person’s chances of getting HIV by more than 90 percent, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
“PrEP can help someone prevent getting HIV if the person is exposed to the virus,” said Patrick Loose, chief of the HIV, Sexually Transmitted Disease, and Hepatitis branch for the County Health and Human Services Agency. “PrEP is an HIV prevention medication that works by taking one pill every day and has the potential to significantly reduce new HIV infections.”
A drug called Truvada, which is commonly used as part of a combination therapy to treat HIV, can also be used by people without the disease to help prevent infection, according to the CDC.
In studies patients who used Truvada had up to a 92 percent lower risk of getting infected than those who did not take the pill.
“PrEP is a powerful HIV prevention tool and can help us to get to zero new infections,” said Wilma Wooten, M.D., M.P.H., County public health officer. “When PrEP is combined with condoms and other prevention methods, the risk of HIV infection is much lower. However, people should not stop using condoms because PrEP does not offer any protection against other sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea.”
Federal guidelines recommend PrEP to HIV-negative people in an ongoing sexual relationship with an HIV-positive partner, people who engage in high-risk sexual behaviors, people who have injected drugs with shared needles, people who work in a drug treatment center or people who have been in treatment for the last six months.
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PrEP is covered by many health insurance plans, and a commercial medication assistance program provides free PrEP to people with limited income and no insurance.
For more information about PrEP, visit the CDC PrEP resources page.
