The HIV morning after pill?

It's really sad that this hasn't been more widely circulated. So many lives could be saved, especially if the medication were cheaper.

I absolutely agree with you! it should be more readily avilable to more people. Especiall y in more low income parts of the country and world.

WOW, everybody should know this!!

WHOA WHOA WHOA! It's only available in, like, 5 states?! Thats absolutely apauling! We need to be more vocal about this stuff. If nothing else, we have the RIGHT to the access to medical treatment.
I plan to dedicate my life to HIV/AID s and hemotology. I don't know if I want to be an oncologist or an educator in Africa..blah blah blah, beside the point. But, blood diseases and cancer are important to me, and I find it terribly disgusting that EVERY state doesn't offer this treatment...
I'm writing ALL my representatives, the state and the senate and the house of representatives , and I urge you all to do the same.

thanks for posting!

It's amazing that we have such life-saving products at our disposal. But if it were to become a popular practice, would people become even more careless about their sexual activity?

Sara_Airey

73 percent of non-hospital-worker pep recipients in a San Francisco study decreased high-risk sex over the following year. And since pep drugs are so toxic, most doctors would be careful about overprescribing.

from the article

This is the type of thing billions of federal dollars should be going into.

Even if doctors are careful about prescribing it, just the knowledge that something like that exists might make people think that they can be carefree about who they sleep with. Then maybe they procrastinate going to the doctors and pretty soon it's too late. Kids might become misinformed about the percentage of success with the drug and believe that there is a sure cure for it. Also, how many people actually know beforehand that the person they are sleeping with has HIV? How often is it that they learn immediately afterwards, within enough time for the treatment to be effective, that they slept with someone with HIV? It seems to me that there are too many loop holes.

good point!

that's why I stick to oral sex. my priest and I made a pledge.

WHOA, WHOA, WHOA! what do ebola, hiv/aids, and bird/avian flu have in common?!

yes, all results of OVERPOPULATION. stop trying to treat the SYMPTOMS of a problem, focus on the source of the symptoms, the problem.

we're all gonna die!

Sara_Airey & Skeet381,

See, this is why we need GOOD GENUINE SEX EDUCATION! Pre-teens and teenagers should know that they shouldn't have sex, but if they choose to; this is what a birth control pill does to your body, this is how a condom works, this is how affective they are, this is PEP what it does and how soon you take it and this is why! I mean, if I had unprotected sex, I would be so paranoid I would be talking to a doctor about this and, if I was hetero, about RU-47 and if there was any interaction. We need to teach our kids about sex FOR REAL and not just convince them sex is Bad and Wrong and they'll go to hell.... that'll lessen there chances of going to their parents if they chose this path, for fear of being judged harchly and then, oh,look, you DO have an STD and you didn't catch it soon enough because of half-assed sex ed and because you were afraid.
They need to know they shouldn't and why (not psychologically development enough, IF its the parents and depending on the family, they're not married, stds and pregnancy..ect) but if they do, they should know they can come and express concerns.
Sexual health is a big deal, we need to bring the virgin rate up in graduating high school seniors, but those that had sex aren't necassarilly wrong and HAVE A RIGHT to this kind of information.

better point thanks for the feedback.

I was one of the young teens having sex too early and I don't even go as far as saying they shouldn't be having sex at all. I don't think religion has anything to do with sex, it has to do with love. Unfortunately, most people don't wait for the one who they can truly share sexual love with and this is where the problem arises. I know that when I was 16 and heard about the morning-after pill I thought, "Alright, now I know that even if something happens I have a quick fix," although I knew that I probably wouldn't have dragged myself down to the nearest clinic three cities away the next morning. You catch my drift?

Sara_Airey,
I can understand and respect that, I guess I am just different. I dunno.
But, also, that doesn't mean you shouldn't have been given the info about RU-47 at all.
I agree as far as sex goes that its a personal thing and they should wait until they believe they could possibly be in love.
I mean, I am just all about proper education.
I don't think kids are getting it now. From school or their parents.

Oh, I totally agree with you. Any good info out there should be given, I just can't help but think about how that's really going to work out in real situations. I also agree that when kids are made to feel ashamed of their actions that they are less likely to confront their parents when something may be wrong. This seems like a complicated piece of info. EbahDyke, you make very good points.

So do you Sara. It's always good debating/having a conversation with someone intelligent

sara and ebah both make excellent and valid points. really though more than anything it boils down to the person and how stupid that person wants to be about sex. Not to mention adding in drinking or drugs into the mixture for some people. There is education out there, either from schools, parents, class mates, fucking Discovery chanel, but really it is up to that person to make that decision to sit down and say "Yes I am going to have sex and be smart, or gamble with their ives and lives of other people. I for one believe this pill is an excellent idea, not just as an Oh My God what did I do, but also for doctors, law enforcement, emts, etc. This could also really make their jobs safer as a whole too.

I know, I hate it when I approach an important topic only for people to say things without really putting thought into them.

i can already hear the wank from fundamentalists saying that this would just promote promiscuity

I worked at CDC for a few years, and yes...this is a real regimen.

Good job on the report.

"I can already hear the wank from fundamentalists saying that this would just promote promiscuity." Indeed, however, I still question why it is they have yet to manage to find a cure for Aids... maybe it is the old saying that, "the money is in the treatment, not the cure."

Yea, no HIV. but what other STD's did they get from not using condoms. It will continue to be an issues and taking a morning after pill can't erase the night before. Aids is the problem now but what else will develop. Remember yesterday's diseases are not the same of today, and tomorrows will most likely be stronger and more deadly.

I'm just totally appalled that it took them almost 10 years to decide that it might be a good idea to make PEPs available to the general public..IMAGINE how many lives could have been saved.
its covered by insurance and WHATS WORSE is that it's never advertised anywhere. I'm just completely speechless right now. There needs to be more marketing and campaigning for this drug.

The argument that it might encourage careless sex is a weak one. In this day and age, information is widely available to everyone who has access to a computer. If people choose to be ignorant and not inform themselves then it's their problem and not the government, the state's or the public health official's fault.

Kramericus, you're full of it

WOW! Absolutely outrageous this is not common knowledge.

This is amazing. Hopefully it can be realeased to the masses and more people can be protected from this deadlty virus if mistakes occur.

It absolutely disgusts me that the general public in the USA and other modernized countries will probably get this medicine at some point (there are already medications for HIV/AIDS carriers that allow them to lead normal lives and reproduce without worry) and that in these modernized countries many cases are from careless people and drug users, while in Africa kids are going to die and never get help for their plight that they could not have prevented and had no say in. I'm not saying that the people who get HIV/AIDS from their own foolish actions should not get help, but just like a organ transplant patient, they could have avoided it and should be placed at the bottom of the list.

if people didn't sleep around or use drugs so many cases of hiv/aids would not happen. as a responsible person i don't need to be threatened with force if i don't want to pay taxes in order to fund the prodigious sex/drug lives of gay people, drug abusers, college/h.s. students, etc...

Hate to bring this up but most people aren't told the next day that their fling from the night before was HIV positive. Today, people would probably kill a person who calmly sat on the bed and said "By the way, I'm HIV positive".

I don't think there is any conspiracy here. The real lesson here is wear a condom, safe sex is the only option no matter how drunk you are. How people can have sex with a person for the first time without a condom when we all know about STDs and AIDS is beyond me.

There are even more amazing products that are being held back from the public because of morality.

Invisible barriers, invisible condoms, gels, foams, and lubricants that kill HIV. There is an injection you can have that will make you HIV immune for up to 72 hours, too.

HIV is completely manageable and can be defended against with education and information. People can learn to alter their behaviors that put them at risk for infection.

Only in America could we be so uninformed. This is an amazing article...pass this on.

This is not new!! At all!!!

You have to pressue doctors to prescribe this if you have an "accident."

They give you a month long supply of Truvada and Kaletra which stops the virus from taking over.

I don't think this is really a "morning-after pill," since the treatment takes so long, but nevertheless this treatment should be available in emergency rooms everywhere. Preventing the spread of disease is always cheaper than treating the disease itself, anyways, so it makes both ethical and economic sense.

I don't understand why there's still this pseudo-political opposition to funding the PEP pill and funding sex education that covers AIDS/HIV.

AIDS/HIV is NOT a "gay" disease; it's a global travesty that needs more support and funding from governments. It's time for organizations across the board to educate citizens about AIDS/HIV, instead of leaving it to the GLBT community to bear the responsibility.

I understand the risks and concerns, but telling people to abstain isnt working either. The more option we give people, the better. After that its up to them.

We will return to an Age of Aquarius, maybe... I like this idea.

What I find interesting is someone named 'Skeet' posted this article.

There are adverts in the UK from the charity the Terrence HIggins Trust for this. They are mainly aimed at the Gay community. I know one or two people that have used PEP and it made them very sick. It is by no means a "morning after pill" that you can use without any thought. The people I have spoken to that tried this had all the side effects that anti viral HIV treatment induces such as nausea, diarrohea etc.

In fact I have heard of people not completing their treatment as it made them so sick (they ended up being ok in the end anyway).

Its expensive apparently and go to most ER's and they are likely to turn you away as most people have never heard of PEP. I know of one person who went to a hospital in South East London only to be told they had never heard of PEP. They presented themselves at a central London hospital instead (dont forget we have free health care at the point of demand in the UK). In that situation a doctor has to assess just how much risk you presented and whether it was worthwhile prescribing.

This links to a few questions to determine whether or not you are likely to need a PEP prescription.

http://www.pep.chapsonline.org.uk/self_assessment.asp

I note with interest some very sick comments by some users with regards to HIV/Aids. Perhaps when a friend of yours tells you they are HIV positive one day you might grow up and develop a sense of empathy for other human beings. I used to make fippent comments myself until this was brought closer to my life by the fate of some fairly unlikely friends.