Drug 'reduces' HIV infection risk

Posted Wed Nov 24, 2010 9:34am AEDT

Researchers in the United States say a pill used to treat HIV patients reduces the risk of new infections in gay men by 44 per cent.

The scientists say the level of reduction goes up to 73 per cent if the Truvada pill is taken regularly.

Almost 2,500 gay or bisexual men were randomly selected in Peru, Ecuador, South Africa, Thailand and the United States.

Half of the men were given the pill, while the other half were given dummy tablets.

All the men were also given condoms and counselling on safe sex.

What the researchers found after about a year was that the drug appeared to cut male-to-male HIV transmission by 44 per cent.

Researchers say it is the first study to show that taking drugs before infection can reduce the risk of HIV transmission and has the potential to be a weapon in the fight against the fatal and incurable virus.

The study comes months after research released in July showed a gel could help protect women against the virus, and one last year showing a vaccine had a partially protective effect.

"These results represent a major advance in HIV prevention research," Dr Kevin Fenton, of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said.