Daily HIV prevention pill for healthy people at risk

With nearly 40,000 new HIV infections each year in the U.S., only a fraction of people who could benefit are prescribed the drug for prevention.

In this May 10, 2012, file photo, a doctor holds Truvada pills in her office in San Francisco. Studies released on Tuesday, June 11, 2019 show the anti-AIDS treatment also cuts the chances that someone who’s still healthy becomes infected from risky sex o — In this 2012, file photo, a doctor holds Truvada pills in her office in San Francisco.

WASHINGTON — New recommendations urge doctors to prescribe a daily prevention pill to people at high risk of HIV infection.

Studies show Truvada cuts the chances that someone who’s still healthy becomes infected from risky sex or injection drug use. But with nearly 40,000 new HIV infections each year in the U.S., only a fraction of people who could benefit are prescribed the drug for prevention.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force says people at high risk of infection include those with an HIV-positive sexual partner, those who have sex without a condom with people at high risk of HIV, and those who inject drugs.

The recommendations were published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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