Giving healthy gay men HIV drugs 'could help reverse epidemic'

 

Men who have sex with men are at high risk of contracting HIV to reduce spread Giving daily HIV drugs to healthy gay men has huge potential to help reverse the epidemic, say scientists.

The medication prevents new infections by killing the virus before it has a chance to take hold in the body.

Calculations, published in the Lancet, indicate giving the drugs to the most at-risk men could cut new infections by more than 40% in the UK.
Experts said the approach was of "huge benefit" to at-risk men and should be adopted.

 
Scientists at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine modelled the impact of introducing such a treatment across the UK.

They estimated there would be 16,955 new cases of HIV in gay men by 2020.

But giving Prep to the most sexually active 25% of gay men would prevent 7,399 infections (44%).