Rumored Use of AIDS Drugs as
Preventive Aids Overblown
San Jose Mercury
News
Steve Johnson
(08.18.06)
Follow-up surveys reveal that few healthy gay and bisexual men are taking AIDS
drugs to prevent HIV infection, according to reports by CDC and San Francisco
Department of Public Health (SFDPH) officials at the 16th International AIDS
Conference.
Rumors of informal pre-exposure prophylactic (PrEP) HIV drug use have persisted
for years, leading officials to worry a do-it-yourself approach might spread
drug-resistant strains and increase risk behaviors. Researchers are studying the
use of Gilead's HIV drugs Viread and Truvada (combining Viread and Emtriva) as
PrEP in both domestic and international trials.
In July 2005, CDC surveys at Gay Pride events in San Francisco, Oakland,
Detroit, and Baltimore found that 7 percent of 1,047 people asked had taken AIDS
drugs as an HIV prophylactic before sex. A few months later, a Los Angeles Times
article reported on "the growing practice" of healthy gay men using Viread,
mixing it with Viagra and ecstasy at dance clubs.
From February to July this year, SFDPH interviewed 851 gay and bisexual men,
including 403 selected randomly and men at a Palm Springs party, to study the
phenomenon of informal PrEP. Only one respondent reported PrEP use, according to
SFDPH data revealed at the conference Thursday.
Of nearly 600 people CDC surveyed at Gay Pride events this year, less than 1
percent reported PrEP use, CDC said this week. The agency issued a statement
saying it was unsure why the results differed so dramatically from its previous
survey. However, the first surveys collected responses by written forms while
the subsequent study used an interviewer. "It is possible that the mode of
survey administration may have affected the results," CDC said.
Health officials plan to continue studying the issue of informal PrEP. "We want to keep a close eye on it," said Dr. Albert Liu of SFDPH.