According to the CDC (2014) Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or
PrEP, is a way for people who do not have HIV to help prevent HIV infection by
taking a pill every day. The pill
contains two medicines that are also used, in combination with other medicines,
to treat HIV. When someone is exposed to HIV through sex or injection drug use,
PrEP can help stop the virus from establishing a permanent infection.
In 2012 the Food and Drug Administration approved the HIV
prevention measure, but it is still not widely known. PrEP is a one pill a day named Truvada, which
is produced in California from Gilead Sciences. Severe and sometimes fatal lactic acidosis (a
buildup of lactic acid in the blood) and liver problems have occurred with
Truvada. Symptoms
of lactic acidosis include unusual weakness or tiredness; unusual muscle pain
or cramps; fast or difficult breathing; stomach pain with vomiting, nausea,
feeling cold, especially in the arms and legs; dizziness or light-headedness;
fast and/or irregular heartbeat. Symptoms of liver problems include yellowing
of the skin or eyes, dark urine, pale stools, persistent loss of appetite,
nausea, and/or stomach pain.
BUT NOT TO WORRY: An insider has told me that researchers are
developing another 1 pill a day HIV prevention regime that is less harmful to
humans for consumption.
This is a great breakthrough. I’m very glad for this as long as we put
things into prospective. This discovery
can help us get to zero and can help the gay community combat HIV and hopefully
we will never be put down by HIV again.
"If something comes along that's better than
condoms, I'm all for it, but Truvada is not that," said Michael Weinstein,
President of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "Let's be honest: It's a
party drug." After his reaction to
the drug many people were in uproar and wanted him to resign as president of
AHF. "There's an element in the gay
community that espouses 'anything goes,' that is for sexual freedom and not
giving an inch," he said. "But demonizing me or AHF isn't going to
shut us up." I think I understand
what he was trying to say, but I don’t think it was the best way to put
it.
The concerns that steam from this are that the gay
community will use this as an excuse to have more sex without condoms. I don’t think that will be the case but I do
understand his concern. The concern that
people will stop using condom and use Truvada is a big concern amongst doctors
as well. They have started to see people
the beginnings of people asking for a prescription for it. One major concern is that when using Truvada
for HIV prevention that people will forget about the things it doesn’t prevent
like, Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Syphilis, Vaginitis, Pelvic Inflammatory Disease
(PID), Human Papillomavirus (HPV) or Genital Warts, Hepatitis, Trichomonas
etc. I don’t say this to scare you but
reality is reality. #thetruth.
AND FOR THE RECORD
I’m in FULL support for PrEP.
CDC (2014), CDC
Fact Sheet: Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV Prevention, Retrieved
from http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/PrEP_fact_sheet_final.pdf
