Daily HIV prevention pill recommended for high-risk patients, USPSTF says

A new recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) says clinicians should offer pre-exposure prophylaxis, or a daily prevention pill, to patients at high risk of acquiring HIV.

Patients at a higher risk of getting HIV include those who:

• Share needles when injecting drugs
• Have a sexual partner who has HIV
• Have sex without a condom with someone at high risk of having HIV

“These new recommendations will go a step further toward reducing the nearly 40,000 new cases of HIV the U.S. has every year,” says Dodson Thompson, DO, the AOA’s representative on the USPSTF. “Currently, many people who could benefit from a daily HIV prevention pill are not taking one. We’re hopeful that the new recommendations will decrease barriers to access and improve education for this patient population.”

In its new recommendation, USPSTF maintains its previous guidelines that adolescents and adults age 15 to 65 and pregnant patients be screened for HIV.

To learn more, read the full recommendation or this summary from the Associated Press.