UMEM Educational Pearls

Category: Pharmacology & Therapeutics

Title: Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) for Preventing HIV Infection

Keywords: HIV, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, PrEP (PubMed Search)

Posted: 8/30/2014 by Bryan Hayes, PharmD (Emailed: 9/6/2014) (Updated: 9/6/2014)
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In May 2014, the U.S. Public Health Service released the first comprehensive clinical practice guidelines for PrEP.

Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) has been shown to decrease the risk of HIV infection in people who are at high risk by up to 92%, if taken consistently.

How this applies to the ED patient:

You may start seeing more patients on only one HIV medication. The PrEP recommendation is once daily emtricitabine/tenofovir (Truvada) 200/300 mg.
This is not a therapy that should generally be initiated in the ED as close outpatient monitioring and follow up is essential.

For more information, the CDC has a comprehensive website dedicated to PrEP.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014). Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/prevention/research/prep/.

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