July 14, 2011

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Trials Bolster Case for Preemptive Use of HIV Drugs to Reduce Transmission Rates

By Hannah Waters

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

Cross-posted from Nature Medicine's Spoonful of Medicine blog

Results from two trials released today provide the first evidence that taking antiretroviral drugs can prevent HIV infection among heterosexual men and women.

The preventative strategy, known as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), was first shown to be effective among gay men. But PrEP suffered a setback in April when a study testing the drug Truvada among women in Africa had to be halted prematurely owing to lack of efficacy. The new trial data, however, shows that the approach has broad potential in the quest to prevent HIV transmission, according to experts in the field.

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“This is the first strong, compelling evidence that PrEP can work in this population,” said Kevin Fenton, director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), during a press briefing earlier today. “It’s a major milestone.”

Continue reading on Nature Medicine's blog >>

Hannah Waters is a science writer fascinated by the natural world, the history of its study, and the way people think about nature. On top of science blogging, she runs the Smithsonian's Ocean Portal, a marine biology education website, and is science editor for Ladybits.

Hannah is a child of the internet, who coded HTML frames on her Backstreet Boys fanpage when she was in middle school. Aptly, she rose to professional science writing through blogging (originally on Wordpress) and tweeting profusely. She's written for The Scientist, Nature Medicine, Smithsonian.com, and others.

Before turning to full-time writing, Hannah wanted to be an oceanographer or a classicist, studying Biology and Latin at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. She's done ecological research on marine food webs, shorebird conservation, tropical ecology and grassland ecosystems. She worked as a lab technician at the University of Pennsylvania studying molecular biology and the epigenetics of aging. And, for a summer, she manned a microphone and a drink shaker on a tour boat off the coast of Maine, pointing out wildlife and spouting facts over a loudspeaker while serving drinks.

Email her compliments, complaints and tips at culturingscience at gmail dot com.

More by Hannah Waters

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