The treatment of HIV has come a long way, thanks to antiretroviral (ARV) drugs that can lower levels of the virus in the body, keeping people healthy and reducing the risk of HIV transmission. Increasingly, though, studies have also shown that the same drugs used to treat existing infections can also help protect HIV-free people from becoming infected.
This year, two groundbreaking trials – the first to involve heterosexual men and women – showed that HIV-free people were significantly less likely to become infected with the virus if they took the antiretroviral drug Truvada (a combination pill that contains the drugs tenofovir and emtricitabine) every day.