Prep for gay men
What is PrEP?
PrEP stands for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis. It involves a person who doesn’t have HIV, regularly taking a pill to reduce their risk of HIV infection.
It takes some time for the right levels of PrEP to be in your system and this needs to be maintained, particularly if you think you might have more riskier sex encounters.
If you intend to contain receptive frontal sex, you need to accept PrEP every time for 1 week before and 1 week after sex. The medication takes longer for PrEP to be absorbed into vaginal tissue in comparison to the rectum.
If you intend on having receptive anal sex there are two ways to take PrEP: daily or on-demand.
For most people taking PrEP daily allows them calm of mind that they’ll have enough of the medication in their system to prevent HIV exposure even if they miss a dose. However, some people may prefer to take PrEP just ahead of having sex as you might not be having sex regularly.
This is sometimes referred to as “event-based dosing” or “on-demand dosing”. It is important that you know how to dose PrEP properly for your chosen way of taking it.
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Pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, is a prevention option for people who are at high risk of getting HIV. It’s meant to be used consistently, as a pill taken every day, and to be used with other prevention options such as condoms. Find out if PrEP is right for you. “PrEP” stands for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis. The pos “prophylaxis” means to prevent or control the spread of an infection or disease. The aim of PrEP is to stop HIV infection from taking keep if you are exposed to the virus. This is done by taking one pill every day. These are some of the same medicines used to keep the virus under govern in people who are already living with HIV.
Why take PrEP?
With 50,000 new HIV infections each year in the United States, and no fix or vaccine available, prevention is key. When taken every night, PrEP can provide a tall level of protection against HIV, and is even more efficient when it is combined with condoms and other prevention tools.
Is PrEP a vaccine?
No. PrEP medicine is not injected into the body and does not serve the same way as a vaccine. A vaccine teaches your body to fight off infection for several years. For PrEP, you take a pill every day by mouth. Th
In 2012, the fight to end the HIV epidemic changed forever. A modern medication called Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) was approved by the FDA as an operative medication to prevent sexual transmission. The first establish of PrEP for HIV was Truvada, a prescription medication that showed up to 99% effectiveness at preventing transmission.
Although the drug was approved for use for all genders, it was also heavily marketed toward the LGBTQ community. And when the drug was initially developed, it was primarily studied within groups of men and non-binary women who had sex with men.
However, anyone who is sexually active or who participates in certain behaviors is at uncertainty of HIV transmission. New reports are also showing that now more people who identify as heterosexual are being diagnosed with HIV than gay men for the first time.
There are now multiple forms of PrEP for HIV prevention that have been approved. But is it only protected for gay, cisgender males to take – or can other genders and people of varying sexual orientations take it as well?
1. Who is At-Risk of HIV Transmission?
First, it is important to understand why PrEP was first primarily prescribed to gay men.
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Nearly 70% of people living with HIV are homosexual and bisexual men – and thankfully the use of PrEP for HIV prevention is increasing among this group. According to a recent study, the number of gay and bisexual males taking PrEP increased by 500% from 2014 to 2017. However, only 35% of gay and multi-attracted males who were at high-risk of HIV transmission were taking the medication.
It is important that everyone takes the proper precautions to protect themselves from HIV transmission. While some people are at more uncertainty than others due to lifestyle choices or other practices, there is a common misconception that your risk of HIV transmission is higher or bring down depending on your sexual orientation or preferred sexual position.
PrEP is designed to help protect any person – regardless of sexual orientation – from HIV transmission. But, you may be wondering if PrEP could affect you differently or be more or less operative depending on if you are a top, bottom, or vers.
For instance, many tops assume they do not deserve to take PrEP since they are at a decrease risk of contracting HIV than a bottom – since they are not penetrated.
So, does PrEP work differently