BMJ  2006;332 (11 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7541.0-f

Editor's choice

Living dangerously

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Making life safer encourages us to live more dangerously. That's the message (well known to risk analysts) of the article by Michael Cassell and colleagues in this week's BMJ (p 605). Risk compensation has been seen with sunscreens (encouraging more time in the sun) and seatbelts (bad driving), and is now a growing problem among people at risk of HIV. This "horse trading" in risk is most frighteningly illustrated by reports of people relying on pre-exposure or post-exposure use of antiretrovirals to protect them from infection.

Unless we link prevention with initiatives to change behaviour, as has been done successfully in Uganda and elsewhere, drug resistant HIV will continue to spread, say Cassell et al. Efforts to contain drug resistance include intensive laboratory monitoring of antiretroviral treatment. But this is beyond the means of health systems in developing countries—the very places where prolonging the usefulness of cheaper first . . . [Full text of this article]

Fiona Godlee, editor

(fgodlee@bmj.com)


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Living dangerously
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