Pill Could Prevent HIV Infection
The Centers of Disease and Prevention conducted a study of rhesus monkeys that has provided "the strongest animal data yet suggesting that potent antiretrovirals given before HIV exposure may prevent sexual HIV transmission." The study consisted of six monkeys given Truvada, a drug typically given to HIV patients as part of a cocktail to prevent the onset of AIDS. All six monkeys were then exposed to the HIV virus once a week for fourteen weeks. The six monkeys remained HIV free. Earlier in the study, nine different monkeys were exposed in the same way without the drug, and they all became infected.