Known as Pre-exposure Prophylaxis, (PrEP), the pill would be taken by high-risk individuals, including homosexuals and bisexuals.
The annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections will be taking place in Boston this week, and new tools to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS will be presented that may be signifying that the end of the disease may be closer than you think. The new technologies include a single pill that can be used to prevent the transmission of HIV, and vaccines to help prevent it.
As reported in the Boston Globe, 1.5 million people around the world become infected with the virus every year, and another 1 million die of AIDS. In the U.S. alone, 1.2 million people are already infected. About 12.8 percent of the population (one out of eight people) are unaware that they are infected. Around the world there are 37 million individuals infected.
When the first AIDS cases were documented in the 1980s treating the infection consisted of taking large quantities of pills on a daily basis, some that had serious side effects. The new pill, which is taken daily and has few side effects, can make individuals less likely to contract the infection and spread it to others. Known as Pre-exposure Prophylaxis, (PrEP), the pill would be taken by high-risk individuals, including homosexuals and bisexuals.