PrEP :Is it worth the risk or cost ?
Please dear HIV - people (meaning healthy) , male and female do NOT take the PrEP bait we are being bombarded by almost everywhere, The drug you will be taking you will be required to take daily is called Truvada, a serious AIDS drug given to people with AIDS to prolong life in those diagnosed with a still fatal disease. Truvada is known to have serious ide effects. It is unknow ast this ealry stage if it has unknown side effects in HIV- individuals. If it works it will only block the possible transmission of HIV . It will not have any effect on any other STD transmission. Practice safe sex. Use condoms , Safe sex works and has a higher chance of blocking the transmission of HIV and any other std including syphilis. Truvada costs approximately $18,000 dollars for most people a month. Its use has been know to encourage a false sense of it's ok to have unprotected sex. Syphilis is out of control in the predominantly gay Chelsea neighborhood of NYC Wear a condom, have your partner wear condom if he refuse. Well as the Act Up women historically chanted: No Glove No Love,
Also beware of men saying they are cured of being HIV + and today are "undetectable" . The science is not clear on what that means ..and HIV has a history of hiding in the body. If you are HIV- don't risk it..
Say No to Truvada and PrEP and YES to safe sex and pleasure ..
Be Safe
Jim Fouratt
AIDS activist since 1982
AIDS activist since 1982
AIDS activist since 1982? I was there, and if PrEP was available then it would been a GOD send. If you remember Act Up protested against the slow HIV drug trials of the day. AZT was an early if toxic drug. HAART has changed drastically since then.
ReplyDeleteEvery line is preposterous: "Please dear HIV - people (meaning healthy)" you say.
Guess what? We can be healthy and even exceed a normal life span. "A study from the US has found that some groups of people with HIV, especially those treated before their CD4 count falls below 350 cells/mm3, now have life expectancies equal to or even higher than the US general population."
http://www.aidsmap.com/Life-expectancy-now-considerably-exceeds-the-average-in-some-people-with-HIV-in-the-US/page/2816267/
PrEP is 2 out of the 3 ART drugs HIV+ people take. (S)ide effects are well tolerated for most. And usually dissipate after a few weeks. It isn't NEW either. I've been on modern ART therapy since 2000. 16 years! Some of the drug cocktails have changed to even less toxic versions, as new formulas have developed.
You say "diagnosed with a still fatal disease." It's considered a manageable illness now. It is deadly if you don't take your meds. "beware of men saying they are cured of being HIV + and today are "undetectable."
Undetectable is a VERY low level of copies <50. Without ART it can be 500,000 or more. The higher the number the more likely an infection. It is NOT a cure. Most undetectable people know that. ART is called Treatment as Prevention: 1) a treatment for the person who has HIV and 2) preventing the ongoing spread of HIV.
Granted condoms do prevent STIs, where PrEP and ART do not. That is not news. But there is a CURE for syphilis and gonorrhea.
You say "If it (PrEP) works it will only block the possible transmission of HIV." ONLY???? Blocking HIV is the Holy Grail. And in a recent Kaiser Permanente PrEP study effectiveness was 100% over 2 years with 657 people. Also it is covered by Ryan White funding and available through health insurance.
Condom do not have a higher efficacy than PrEP. Anal sex with condoms is only 70% even if used 100% of the time. PrEP used as prescribed is at least 96%, and 100% in the recent study.
http://www.aidsmap.com/Consistent-condom-use-in-anal-sex-stops-70-of-HIV-infections-study-finds-but-intermittent-use-has-no-effect/page/2586976/
Also condoms have NEVER been approved by the FDA for anal sex. NEVER, EVER! But PrEP has been. And both are encouraged by the CDC.
You say "have your partner wear condom if he refuse" WTF does that even mean? It can't be forced.
I'd say you were joking or catfishing, but what you are advocating is stigmatizing AND dangerous. 'Condoms Only' has never worked. In San Francisco where condoms, PrEP and ART are encouraged, infections were down to 302 last year. There were 2,332 in 1992 when 'condoms only' was the only prevention.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/health/san-francisco-hiv-aids-treatment.html