Justin B. Terry-Smith has been involved in LGBTQ and HIV Activism since 1999. He is an Air Force 9/11 Disabled Vet. Raised in Silver Spring, MD, he now lives in Albuequerque, New Meixco with his husband Phil. He writes an HIV/STI Advice Column for A&U Magazine, is a Contributing writer for thebody.com, a Life Coach and an Adjunct Professor. He has earned his Doctorate in Public Health with a concentration in Infectious Disease and his Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling.
Justin B Terry-Smith's explains in his HIV advice column Just*in Time in A&U: America's AIDS Magazine why We should NOT stigmatize people who choose to utilize #PrEP.
Question:
Justin—
We have been friends (on Facebook) for a while and we met [as fellow members of] the leather community when you were Mr. Maryland Leather 2010. However, I would appreciate it if you keep my identity secret, seeing as how we are both well known in the leather community as well.
Well, I noticed that there is a spike in syphilis cases among gay men, especially in the leather community. Do you think that has anything to do with pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)? My next question is about post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). In your opinion do you think that PEP gives people permission to have sex with others and then go get the pill the next morning? —Old Guard Leather DADDY
For the first time Scientist have now seen its first case of
an individual contracting the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) while being
compliant with taking Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) daily. The HIV strain that they were exposed to is
supposedly a multi-drug resistant strain.
In other words, the strain of HIV that the person who was taking PrEP,
is resistant to many levels of HIV medications.
So this doesn’t surprise me because the strain is HIV drug resistant because
PrEP is 92% effective in preventing HIV transmission, so it isn’t 100% but
neither is using a condom.
Unfortunately,
the only thing that is 100% effective is abstinence and that is farfetched to
try to even preach that message. PrEP has
been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since July 16, 2012. I would say 4 years of no HIV infections for
those that are compliant with taking PrEP is a huge step for public health in eradicating
the threat of HIV transmission.
A 43-year-old man who has sex with men (MSM) who had been
taking PrEP 24 months before his HIV test provided a positive result. The researchers gave him a blood spot test in
order to determine whether or not he had stayed compliant to PrEP, which it was
inferred that the patient was compliant.
Test also concluded that his HIV medication resistant strain that he was
infected by was indeed from only 1 person and not because of mutation of
another strain of HIV after transmission.
The patient is now being put on Tivicay (dolutegravir), Prezcobix
(darunavir/cobicistat), and Edurant (rilpivirine), and continues to have an
undetectable viral load.
Prep (Truvada) is made up of two medications tenofovir and emtricitabine. In the world right now if someone is infected
with HIV they usually either have resistance to tenofovir or emtricitabine. But they usually almost never have resistance
to both tenofovir and emtricitabine at the same time.
The data was made public knowledge at the 2016 Conference on
Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Boston by HIV Specialist
Dr. David Knox
I was on Facebook when I first heard of and saw the
HIV Smart Campaign and became very curious about what was its meaning. As many HIV campaigns have become a part of
social media this HIV campaign is the first of its kind that I’ve seen since
PrEP was created. I attended photoshoots
in Baltimore and in Washington DC, both with good turn outs. The pictures are meant to be shared on all
social media including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. This campaign raises awareness on how we
mentally see people with HIV and HIV itself.
While the mission is that people think smarter (hence the glasses) about
HIV, it reduces HIV stigma at the same time.
It also makes not only the target population of gay men and MSM but the
general population think about the benefits of PrEP and PEP. Working with photographer Ryan Colford was
amazing and he is amazing.
HIV Smart was created by founder and President Ryan
Colford, “to dispel ignorance because of all the disinformation still being
circulated to the public in an age of technology.
Real facts need to be known, and should be shared.”
HIV Smartis a newly developed nonprofit organization that focuses
on education about preventative methods (PrEP/PEP), education about risk
behaviors, advocating HIV testing and the importance of knowing your status.HIV Smartalso creates awareness about the
serious link between people living with HIV and depression, and last but
definitely not least, places an emphasis on fighting stigma. The heart ofHIV
Smartcampaign is
a social media photo campaign. We encourage everyone to use their pictures
across all forms of social media from Facebook to Instagram to Twitter. The
recognizable imagery will help to raise awareness through increased visibility
and foster real intelligent conversations relaying true facts and dispelling
myths. These conversations will cover the challenges associated with the virus
and stress the importance of treating all people with dignity and compassion.
Our goals are to create multiple photo events in
each of the 50 states with a large focus on the top 5 states with the highest
transmission rates (New York, Florida, California, Georgia, and Texas). We hope
that each photo event will help educate everyone regardless of status, create
more public awareness that it’s only disease, and reinforce that shame of any
sort should never be associated with HIV. He developed the idea of forming the organization, corresponding
website, and blending it with his talents as a photographer by adding a social
media photo campaign.
In Washington DC the HIV Smart Campaign was
hosted by Mr.
DC Eagle 2016
