Should I consider taking PrEP?

CDC recommends that people who are HIV-negative and at increased risk for HIV consider PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis).

For people who inject drugs, this includes those who have injected illicit drugs in the past 6 months and who have shared injection equipment, or been in drug treatment for injection drug use in the past 6 months.

For sexual transmission, this includes anyone who is in an ongoing relationship with an HIV-positive partner. It also includes anyone who is not in a mutually monogamous relationship—that means both partners only have sex with each other—with a partner who recently tested HIV-negative, and:

• is a gay or bisexual man who has had anal sex without a condom or been diagnosed with an STD in the past 6 months
• or is a heterosexual man or woman who does not regularly use condoms during sex with partners of unknown HIV status who are at substantial risk of HIV infection (e.g., people who inject drugs or have bisexual male partners).

For heterosexual couples in which one partner has HIV and the other does not, PrEP is one of several ways to protect the uninfected partner during conception and pregnancy.

People who use PrEP must be able to take the drug every day and to see their health care provider every 3 months for a repeat HIV test, prescription refills and follow-up.