While immediate postexposure treatment for suspected HIV is
critical, pre-exposure preventive treatment is a newer method
that may be effective for people in high-risk groups, states a
review of evidence published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical
Association Journal). "Although postexposure prophylaxis has a
long history of success, newer methods such as pre-exposure
prophylaxis and earlier treatment in the course of infection
("treatment as prevention") are being implemented with some
success," writes Dr. Isaac Bogoch, Harvard Medical School and
the Division of Infectious Diseases, Massachusetts General
Hospital, Boston, with coauthors. Several recent large
randomized controlled trials have added to knowledge about pre-
exposure prevention and early initiation of antiretroviral
therapy. To provide physicians with current pharmacologic
prevention methods, researchers from Massachusetts General
Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical
School, Boston, Massachusetts and Sunnybrook Health Sciences,
Toro