HIV negative men who have sex with men should consider taking daily antiretroviral, says WHO

Men who have sex with men and who have tested negative for HIV are being urged by the World Health Organization to consider including antiretroviral drugs as part of their standard HIV preventive measures.

The recommendation comes in new guidelines published by WHO for people most at risk of HIV infection.1 Modelling carried out by WHO showed that the incidence of HIV among men who have sex with men could be cut by 20-25% over the next 10 years, equivalent to one million new infections, if they followed the recommendation.

WHO said that the continuing high incidence of HIV worldwide among men who have sex with men indicated that this additional measure, known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, was necessary. The guidelines quote the iPrEx study,2 which found that the rate of new HIV infections in men who were given a daily …