Pre-exposure prophylaxis may increase risky behaviour when introduced, study finds

Although taking antiretroviral drugs as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is highly effective for preventing HIV infection and is recommended by the World Health Organization for high risk populations, an Australian study in the Lancet HIV journal has found that a rapid uptake of PrEP by gay and bisexual men was accompanied by an equally rapid decrease in consistent condom use, which could undermine PrEP’s effectiveness.1

Researchers analysed survey data from 16 827 gay and bisexual men before and after the largescale roll-out of PrEP in publicly funded projects in Victoria and New South Wales. Recent PrEP use by HIV negative men increased from 2% in 2013 (44 of 2324 men) to 24% in 2017 (783 …