High-risk groups urged to take pill to prevent HIV infection

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

High-risk groups urged to take pill to prevent HIV infection
(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that people most at risk for contracting HIV take a daily pill that has been shown to prevent being infected by the virus.

The CDC's new guidelines state that the drug regimen pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) should be used by gay men who have sex without condoms, anyone who shares needles or injects drugs, heterosexuals with high-risk partners (such as male bisexuals or an intravenous drug user) who have unprotected sex, and people who regularly have sex with partners who are infected, The New York Times reports. The drug Truvada — a mix of tenofovir and emtricitabine that has few side effects and is already used to treat patients in poor countries — costs $13,000 a year and is covered by most health insurers.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.