Key Points
- Most people get HIV through anal or vaginal sex, or sharing needles, syringes, or other drug injection equipment (i.e., cookers).
- Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is medicine (in the form of pills or shots) taken to reduce your chances of getting HIV.
- Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is the use of antiretroviral drugs to prevent HIV after a single high-risk exposure.
Prevention Overview
Most people get HIV through anal or vaginal sex, or sharing needles, syringes, or other drug injection equipment (i.e., cookers). However, there are powerful tools that can help prevent getting or transmitting HIV.
Prevention strategies include:
- Choose sexual activities with little to no chance of transmitting HIV, such as those that don't involve contact with semen, vaginal fluid, or blood.
- Using condoms is a highly effective way to prevent HIV and other STIs, like gonorrhea and chlamydia.
- Take PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) which is medicine that can prevent HIV infection.
- If you inject drugs, never share needles, syringes, or other drug injection equipment.
- If you think that you may have been exposed to HIV in the last 72 hours, talk to your health care provider, an emergency room doctor, or an urgent care provider right away about PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis).
- If you or your partner has HIV, get and stay in treatment. People with HIV who take HIV medicine and get and keep an undetectable viral load will not transmit HIV to their sex partners.
PrEP Overview:
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is medicine (in the form of pills or shots) taken to reduce your chances of getting HIV. PrEP is highly effective in preventing HIV for adults and adolescents with exposure to HIV through sex or injection drug use. When taken as prescribed, PrEP reduces the risk of getting HIV from sex by about 99% and from injection drug use by at least 74%. PrEP may also be an option to help protect pregnant people and their babies from getting HIV while trying to get pregnant, during pregnancy, or while breastfeeding. Since PrEP only protects against HIV, condom use is still important for the protection against other STDs.
For more information on PrEP, visit hivinfo.nih.gov/understanding-hiv/fact-sheets/pre-exposure-prophylaxis-prep
From CDC:
- Lets Stop HIV Together: PrEP
- Preventing HIV With PrEP
- PrEP Resources
PEP Overview:
Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is the use of antiretroviral drugs to prevent HIV after a single high-risk exposure. PEP is for emergency situations only and must be started within 72 hours of a possible exposure.
For more information on PEP, visit hivinfo.nih.gov/understanding-hiv/fact-sheets/post-exposure-prophylaxis-pep
From CDC:
- Preventing HIV With PEP
- PEP Resources
- PEP and Workplace Exposures