Open AccessCan Antiretroviral Therapy Be Used to Prevent Sexual Transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1?
Author(s) -
Mina C. Hosseinipour,
Myron S. Cohen,
Pietro Vernazza,
Angela D. M. Kashuba
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
clinical infectious diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.44
H-Index - 336
eISSN - 1537-6591
pISSN - 1058-4838
DOI - 10.1086/340403
Subject(s) - medicine , transmission (telecommunications) , sexual transmission , antiretroviral therapy , condom , pandemic , immunology , lentivirus , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , treatment as prevention , virology , sexually transmitted disease , disease , viral disease , viral load , intensive care medicine , covid-19 , infectious disease (medical specialty) , microbicide , syphilis , electrical engineering , engineering
Approximately 5 million people annually are newly infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Although education, behavior modification, and promotion of condom use are effective transmission-prevention measures, the severity of the pandemic demands that all possible prevention strategies be explored. Antiretroviral therapy has the potential to decrease sexual transmission of HIV type 1 by reducing levels of HIV RNA and thus decreasing the risk that infected persons will transmit the disease or by its use as preexposure or postexposure prophylaxis. In this article, we explore the rationale for using antiretroviral therapy to prevent sexual transmission of HIV, as well as the limitations of this approach.
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