News Dec 5, 2012 at 4:00 am

Health Workers Fight Over a Magic Little Pill That Could Prevent HIV Infection

Mike Force

Comments

1
Gay men who are in a high-risk group for HIV infection are, by definition, already engaging in risky behavior. People who like to bareback are doing so now and will continue to do so. People who get drunk and end up at a bath-house are going to continue that as well. Considering that you can't get these prophylactic meds without getting regular follow-up and counseling people will get regular positive reinforcement for engaging in safer sexual practice. Most HIV positive men learn that it is in their best interest to use condoms to reduce STDs. Should poz men be denied meds because they might engage in risky behavior as well?
3
As someone quoted in this article let me say that I strongly support additional research to find biomedical ways to prevent HIV infection. Lives have been saved and are prolonged because of the important work done to date. The study mentioned in this article is important to increasing what we know about keeping men safe while enjoying sex.

I also strongly support personal responsiblitiy and for every gay man to value their own lives and those of their partners by doing whatever is necessary. Since the current public health recommendation is to continue condom use while taking the meds it is my opinion that both individuals and communities need to look at ways to support behavior change.
4
As someone quoted in this article let me say that I strongly support additional research to find biomedical ways to prevent HIV infection. Lives have been saved and are prolonged because of the important work done to date. The study mentioned in this article is important to increasing what we know about keeping men safe while enjoying sex.

I also strongly support personal responsiblitiy and for every gay man to value their own lives and those of their partners by doing whatever is necessary. Since the current public health recommendation is to continue condom use while taking the meds it is my opinion that both individuals and communities need to look at ways to support behavior change.
5
Everyone focuses on the idea that gay men will use PREP so they don't have to use condoms. While it is an issue, I think that the other reason for PREP is being ignored; discordant couples.
6
@ #2 -- Agreed on all points!
8
@2 Thats a dumb argument. You already pay for other peoples mistakes. It can be someone who perhaps crashed their car and ended up in ER. Or it could a couple who give birth to child #5 even though they can hardly provide for 1-4. It could be someone who perhaps drove to fast, skidded and trashed a safety fence that now needs repairs.

The justification of a states existence is its ability to act as protection, assistant or safety net to its citizens - without that it has no real meaning or point except as a breeding ground for politicians and nobility.
You pay for so many dumb things. The money you personally donate to send young men and women to their deaths in far-away places. Subsidies to companies that kill off entire chunks of our planet and may kill us all in the process.

Complaining about this is like pissing in the ocean and calling it a high tide.
9
David in shoreline,
I hope YOU die. Frankly.
10
@5: I'm with you on that one. I think the obvious use for these drugs as preventatives is when one half of a couple is positive and the other is negative, and they don't want that to change. I'm not really sure they should be given to single people- I think single people should condoms with every single partner they have, regardless of whether they're gay or straight. But I think couple in committed, long-term relationships should at least have the option to weigh their odds of transmission with all the tools that are really available.
11
For what it's worth, unless you have super fancy insurance, PREP is likely not covered. The NEXT PREP trials that is referenced in this article is a worldwide study consisting of 400 participants, only 25 from Seattle. For more information on the study you can go here: http://www.niaid.nih.gov/news/QA/Pages/N…

12
I say, anyone who wants or needs it---go for it, and all the best!

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