In Major Advance, Anti-HIV Pills Protect Uninfected Heterosexuals

摘要

Two studies in sub-Saharan Africa have shown for the first time that daily doses of anti-HIV pills taken by uninfected men and women can prevent heterosexual spread of the virus (see p. 393). An earlier trial proved that such pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) could protect men who have sex with men, but the new results, simultaneously announced on 13 July, were widely hailed as a "breakthrough" in HIV prevention as heterosexual transmission accounts for most of the 34 million infections in the world.