Awesome news! Two new studies from Africa have shown a major breakthrough in HIV prevention!
One study called TDF2, followed more than 1,200 HIV-negative sexually active men and women in Botswana – a country with a population hard hit by HIV. Those who took a daily dose of Truvada (TDF/FTC), used to treat HIV-positive individuals, decreased their chances of contracting the disease by 62%!
In the second study, the University of Washington followed nearly 5,000 couples in Kenya and Uganda, in which one of the persons was HIV-positive. The uninfected partners were then given the same HIV medicine, Truvada, and had had 73% fewer HIV infections than another treatment!
Experts are calling this a “breakthrough in prevention” 30 years after the HIV/AIDS epidemic began. Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of the HIV/AIDS Prevention Division for the CDC, said:
“It’s a breakthrough in prevention├óΓé¼┬ªUp to this point, we have not had the opportunity to prevent acquisition among unaffected people.”
Such amazing news! We hope more people in Africa can get their hands on this treatment to prevent more infections!
[Image via AP Images.]
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