See how to prevent yourself from HIV AIDS AND KNOW THE SYMTOMPS.

Summary

In the early 1980s, when the HIV/AIDS epidemic began, patients rarely lived longer than a few years. But today, there are many effective medicines to fight the infection, and people with HIV have longer, healthier lives.

There are five major types of medicines:

• Reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors - interfere with a critical step during the HIV life cycle and keep the virus from making copies of itself
• Protease inhibitors - interfere with a protein that HIV uses to make infectious viral particles
• Fusion inhibitors - block the virus from entering the body's cells
• Integrase inhibitors - block an enzyme HIV needs to make copies of itself
• Multidrug combinations - combine two or more different types of drugs into one

These medicines help people with HIV, but they are not perfect. They do not cure HIV/AIDS. People with HIV infection still have the virus in their bodies. They can still spread HIV to others through unprotected sex and needle sharing, even when they are taking their medicines.

PREVENTION OF HIV AIDS

Overview

Preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a medicine taken daily that can be used to prevent getting HIV. PrEP is for people without HIV who are at very high risk for getting it from sex or injection drug use. People at high risk who should be offered PrEP include about 1 in 4 sexually active gay and bisexual men*, 1 in 5 people who inject drugs, and 1 in 200 sexually active heterosexual adults. When taken every day, PrEP is safe and highly effective in preventing HIV infection. PrEP is even more effective if it is combined with other ways to prevent new HIV infections like condom use, drug abuse treatment, and treatment for people living with HIV to reduce the chance of passing the virus to others. Many people who can benefit from PrEP aren’t taking it. If more health care providers know about and prescribe PrEP, more HIV infections could be prevented.

Health care providers can:

• Test patients for HIV as a regular part of medical care. Discuss HIV risks and continued use of prevention methods, including condom use, with all patients.
• Follow the 2014 PrEP Clinical Practice Guidelines to perform recommended tests and prescribe PrEP to patients without HIV who could benefit.
• Counsel patients who can benefit from PrEP on how to take it every day and help them apply for insurance or other programs to pay for PrEP.
• Schedule appointments for patients using PrEP every 3 months for follow-up, including HIV testing and prescription refills.

• Problem

  Many people at very high risk for HIV infection are not getting PrEP.

  PrEP is for some people at very high risk for getting HIV:

  • 1 in 4 sexually active gay and bisexual adult men without HIV who:
    • Have an HIV-positive partner, or
    • Have multiple partners, a partner with multiple partners, or a partner whose HIV status is unknown and
      • Have anal sex without a condom, or
      • Recently had a sexually transmitted infection (e.g. syphilis).
  • 1 in 5 adults without HIV who inject drugs who:
    • Share needles or equipment to inject drugs, or
    • Recently went to a drug treatment program (specifically, a methadone, buprenorphine, or suboxone treatment program), or
      
    • Are at risk for getting HIV from sex.
  • 1 in 200 sexually active heterosexual adults without HIV who:
    • Have an HIV-positive partner, or
    • Have multiple partners, a partner with multiple partners, or a partner whose HIV status is unknown and
      • Do not always use a condom for sex with people who inject drugs, or
      • Are women who do not always use a condom for sex with bisexual men.

  Not enough health care providers know about PrEP.

  • 
    In 2015, 34% of primary care doctors and nurses had never heard of PrEP (2015 survey).
  • All prescribing health care providers can deliver PrEP care, including test for HIV, ask about sex and drug use behaviors to determine their patient’s risk of getting HIV, and prescribe PrEP when indicate