Pressure in Europe for access to PrEP At the 15th European AIDS Conference, speakers voiced concerns from public about the growing need for access to PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) to be used informally. PrEP is a treatment that uses anti-HIV medication to prevent people who are HIV-negative from becoming infected in the near future (up to… Continue reading
HIV holds a great threat to health care workers as constant exposure may lead to accidental HIV infection in previously un-infected individuals. A timely treatment of HIV Post-exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) is a prevention therapy that has been proven to be highly effective in protecting against occupational HIV infection. Due to its potential toxicities though, a… Continue reading
HIV PEP medication has been helping to greatly reduce the possibility of infection after exposure to HIV. PEP is prescribed for 28 days as a two or a three-drug regimen. It is recommended that PEP therapy starts within 72 hours after HIV exposure. A recently published report compared the efficacy of the 28 day full… Continue reading
Among occupations, Medical professionals are the ones who are most highly exposed to infections and threats of communicable diseases. Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), being an untreatable virus, holds great risk to medical professionals especially those who work with HIV-infected patients and needles. HIV Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) is something that can greatly reduce the risk of… Continue reading
Animals have long been the most faithful friends of humans but what is more interesting to know is that they have been a model for scientific experimentation which helps humans to make better medication and cure. A recently published meta-analysis report by the team of Irvine C. in the journal “Clinical Infectious Diseases”, the authors… Continue reading
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus known as HIV attacks a person’s immune system making them susceptible to infections like tuberculosis, opportunistic infections and even tumours. These are diseases that would normally not affect people with a strong immune system. Although studies show that there is no cure for HIV, there are drugs available that can slow… Continue reading
A study was conducted in two Australian cities namely Melbourne and Sydney to determine the effectiveness of a new drug for the treatment of HIV. A small sample group of 100 healthy non-HIV infected gay men who were eligible for HIV PEP (Post-exposure Prophylaxis) were part of the study. Post-exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) is a medical… Continue reading
The New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute (NYSDHAI) recently tasked their Medical Care Criteria Committee (MCCC) to update their HIV PEP (Post-exposure Prophylaxis) guidelines. PEP refers to the treatment required and administered after exposure to HIV – a sexually transmitted disease (STD). This exposure is categorised as resulting from sexual assault, occupational exposure,… Continue reading
What is it? HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It is a human specific (can only infect humans) virus that attacks the T-cells of the immune system. T-cells are the detector cells of the immune system, attacking foreign antigens they encounter in the blood stream. The HIV virus invades the T-cells. Once in they take… Continue reading