Suzi Birz, principal, HiQ Analytics, LLC Oct. 16, 2009 - You, or
your patient, have just been exposed to HIV. Quick! What do you
do? Instead of panicking in this situation, health care workers
can access a new computer tool, developed for New York
clinicians, to help them take immediate action that might keep
the exposed person from becoming infected with the virus that
causes AIDS. HIV post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is a
potentially preventative treatment using antiretroviral drugs to
treat individuals within 72 hours of a high-risk exposure to
HIV. PEP can reduce the rate of infection by helping the body's
immune system to stop the virus from multiplying in the infected
cells of the body. While still being studied in non-work-related
incidents, it has been found that PEP can reduce the rate of
infection in health care workers exposed to HIV by 79 percent.
PEP has been the standard of care for health care workers since
1998 and in 2005 the CDC stated that the treatment also should
be used for non-work-relat