PrEP can ‘significantly’ reduce HIV rates across populations, study says

(CNN) – HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP, the use of drugs to prevent HIV infection, among men who have sex with men can significantly reduce new infections across an entire population of men, a new study finds.

Based on introduction of the intervention, HIV infections diagnosed in men who have sex with men in the Australian state of New South Wales fell by a quarter — 25.1% — in one year in the research, published Wednesday in the journal the Lancet.

Diagnoses fell from from 295 in October 2016, before the study, to 221 just 12 months after the PrEP rollout — the lowest number since HIV surveillance started in New South Wales in 1985.

“The speed and magnitude of response was remarkable,” said Andrew Grulich, lead author of the paper and professor of the HIV epidemiology and prevention program at the Kirby Institute in the University of New South Wales.

Grulich believes that the large decline is because PrEP “is acting in a similar way to a vaccine,” meaning herd immunity has led to fewer people becoming infected overall in the state of 7 million.

University College London professor of cellular and molecular virology Ariberto Fassati, who was not involved in the new research, explained that there is a “benefit for the larger community if there is a core of individuals that are taking PrEP.”

Scroll to Top

During the Canada Post strike announced September 25, 2025, the following measures will be undertaken to minimize service disruption to BC-CfE clients and providers.

  • The BC-CfE Laboratory has transitioned to private courier for delivery of outgoing reports and documents. Results required urgently can be faxed upon request. (Lab Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8775; FAX 604-806-9463)
  • The BC-CfE Drug Treatment Program (DTP) will fax outgoing forms and documents to the provider’s office. (DTP Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8515; FAX 604-806-9044)
  • St. Paul’s Hospital Ambulatory Pharmacy has transitioned to private courier for delivery of medications. We recommend requesting medication at least 2 weeks in advance in case of delivery delays, particularly to rural/remote parts of BC. (Contact Information: Phone 1-800-547-3622; FAX 604-806-8675)

During the Canada Post strike, we recommend that documents be faxed or couriered to our sites, versus utilization of regular mail service

The BC-CfE Laboratory is streamlining reporting processes for certain tests in order to simplify distribution and record-keeping, and to ensure completeness of results. Beginning September 2, 2025, results for the ‘Resistance Analysis of HIV-1 Protease and Reverse Transcriptase’ (Protease-RT) and ‘HIV-1 Integrase Resistance Genotype’ tests will be combined into a single ‘HIV-1 Resistance Genotype Report’.
For more details and example reports, please click on the button below