PrEP for HIV

PrEP for HIV: An Opportunity for Pharmacy

HIV is still a serious health issue in major parts of the world, including the United States. PrEP helps protect the people not infected with HIV or ones at a higher risk of contracting it.

HIV weakens your immune system by explicitly going after the CD4 cells, commonly known as T cells. HIV can destroy countless cells over time that the body can't fight the infections after some time, leading to AIDS if left untreated.

The harm to the immune system makes the individual bound to contract artful contaminations and other disease-related tumors before at last capitulating to those entanglements. There is no successful fix that presently exists, however, the sickness can be controlled with legitimate clinical consideration.

What is PrEP and who should consider taking PrEP?

PrEP refers to pre-exposure prophylaxis, which means to prevent or control the spread of HIV. HIV-negative individuals can likewise decrease their risk for HIV. Pre-openness prophylaxis (PrEP) is an HIV counteraction approach in which individuals in danger of HIV (current HIV-negative people) take everyday medication to forestall it.

PrEP is beneficial for people who don't have HIV yet but are at a high risk of getting HIV. These people take PrEP consistently to prevent HIV contamination. PrEP is also beneficial to people without HIV who are at risk of being infected by HIV through sex or infusion drug use. Two commonly prescribed PrEP medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) include Truvada and Descovy.

Cells infected with HIV become little factories making billions of HIV viruses every day. PrEP like Truvada works by blocking the entry of the virus into the cell or blocking the production steps used by HIV to make copies of itself inside the cell. In an HIV-negative person with enough PrEP in the bloodstream when exposed to HIV (during unprotected sex), the medicine prevents the HIV from making enough copies to “take hold” in the body and become infected. PrEP should be taken till it reaches maximum effectiveness.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that PrEP be considered for individuals who are HIV negative and who have had anal or vaginal sex in the beyond a half year and:

• Have a sexual partner with HIV (mainly with undetectable or unknown viral load), or

• Have not used a condom, or

• Have been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease (STD).

PrEP is also recommended for people without HIV who inject drugs and:

• Have an injection partner with HIV, or

• Share needles, syringes, or other equipment to inject drugs.

Importance of Pharmacy in HIV Prevention

In the United States, 1.1 million people are living with human immunodeficiency infection (HIV). Ending the HIV pandemic requires diminishing HIV transmissions by 90% within 10 years. This would require extended HIV testing, antivirals for people infected with HIV, and a scale-up of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) to prevent new infections.

Local area pharmacies are generally open and utilize highly trained health care professionals who can prescribe PrEP and PEP. Suggestions are proposed to carry out a local area drug store PrEP program. Pharmacy, government, and HIV prevention pioneers should be ready to help and advance groundbreaking changes, including:

• Change or development of existing state-explicit extent of training to start PrEP and PEP,

• Empowering drug specialist training about PrEP and PEP,

• Distinguishing proof and screening of possibility for PrEP qualification,

• Consolidating pharmacy lab requesting and observing strategies,

• Changing the work process and guaranteeing classified spaces for delicate conversations, and

• Addressing repayment to keep up with drug specialists conveyed PrEP and PEP programs.