Important note: Information in this article was accurate in April 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.AIDSWEEKLY Plus; Monday, April 2, 2001
Michael Greer, Staff Medical Writer
J.O. Kahn and colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco, evaluated the results of administering HIV inhibitors to patients reporting high-risk behavior. The results of their research were published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.
After six months, they found that not a single patient out of the more than 400 studied had developed HIV infection after PEP treatment.
The PEP regimen used in this study consisted of a four-week course of antiretroviral drugs. In addition, counselors provided "individually tailored risk-reduction and medication-adherence counseling," Kahn et al. explained. The regimen was repeated in 12% of patients after additional potential exposure.
More than 90% of the high-risk behavior precipitating PEP treatment was sexual in nature, study data showed. The most common sexual activity reported by patients was anal intercourse, which was reported by almost 70% of the study cohort.
The median length of time between possible exposure and PEP treatment was 33 hours ("Feasibility of postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) against human immunodeficiency virus infection after sexual or injection drug use exposure: The San Francisco PEP study," J Infect Dis 2001 Mar 1;183(5):707-14.
"PEP, after nonoccupational HIV exposure, is feasible for persons at risk for HIV infection," Kahn and colleagues concluded.
The corresponding author for this report is J.O. Kahn, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco General Hospital, Dept. of Medicine, Positive Health Program, 995 Potrero Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94110 USA.
Key points reported in this study include:
This article was prepared by AIDS Weekly editors from staff and other reports.
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