What Is Post-Exposure Prevention (PEP)?

Abstract:
This fact sheet discusses the possibility that for HIV-uninfected persons who are exposed to HIV, there may be a window of opportunity in the first few hours or days after exposure in which protease inhibitors, given in combination with other HIV drugs, may prevent HIV infection. In a study of health care workers with needlestick exposure to HIV-infected blood, this post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) reduced the odds of HIV infection by 81%. However, some people believe this study is not definitive, and there have been no studies on PEP for sexual or injection exposure. The fact sheet examines the components of PEP, whether PEP works, some disadvantages (such as the fear that people will return to unsafe sexual and drug-using practices, the fear that people may develop a resistant strain of HIV, and the fact that PEP regimens can be both complicated and prohibitively expensive to follow), and what programs currently exist.

Author(s): DeCARLO, Pamela; and COATES, Thomas J., Ph.D.

Publication: HIV Prevention: Looking Back, Looking Ahead


Date Published: 12/1/1997

Pages: 2

Comments:
Available from the National AIDS Clearinghouse (800-458-5231). Fact sheets are also available in Spanish. Alternate web site (HIV InSite): http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/prevention.

Location Code: 14134