Fighting the Spread of AIDS

Post Exposure Prophylaxis is an antiroviral drug treatment that is started right after a person comes in contact with HIV. The treatment is designed to give the immune system a better chance of protecting itself against the virus. It has to be administered at least 72 hours after contact to be affective and even then your chances are slim. PEP usually takes a month of two to three different drugs that cause a large variety of side effects. It is very common for most people to not finish the whole treatment. Side effects such as diarrhea, headaches, vomiting, and fatigue are pretty severe. Some of the more popular drugs used are zidovudine, lamivudine, and nelfinavir.
Pre Exposure Prophylaxis OR PrEP is a treatment taken before exposure to HIV/AIDS it also consists of antiretroviral drugs such as emtricitabine and tenofavir. Unlike PEP, PrEP side effects are moderately less severe. For both PEP and PrEP the results are hard to gauge due to lack of human testing. Since the only trails that have been done are on animals it is difficult to determine how well this medications work.
PEP and PrEP are being put in place in standard emergency procedures in undeveloped and developed countries around the world. In China and Thailand there are on going trials to see just how effective PEP and PrEP really are to give us a better gauge of what can be done to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS.