About 1.2 million Americans are at high risk for HIV and could benefit from taking the pill, sold under the brand name Truvada, in a strategy that doctors call “pre-exposure prophylaxis,” or PrEP, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Studies in men who have sex with men show that taking PrEP reduces the risk of contracting HIV by 92%. Studies in injection drug users have found that PrEP reduced the risk of infection by more than 70%.
Yet only about 21,000 people – less than 1% of those who could benefit – are taking PrEP, the CDC’s Jonathan Mermin said.
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