The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is making a big push to get more people at "substantial" risk of getting HIV to start on a daily pill that has been shown to dramatically reduce their risk of infection.
Known as PrEP or pre-exposure prophylaxis, the therapy involves taking a daily pill — Truvada — that makes it more difficult for the virus to establish a permanent infection when a person is exposed to it through sexual contact or injectable drug use. Studies have shown that it can reduce risk by 70 to more than 90 percent. In stunning results released in one study in September, researchers found that 100 percent of participants taking HIV prevention pill Truvada remained infection-free for two years. The study, conducted at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco, involved more than 600 high-risk individuals, most of whom were men who have sex with men.
