New Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Therapy as Prophylaxis after Non-occupational

The Centers for Disease Control, in conjunction with the Food & Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration has recently updated its guidelines for the use of antiretroviral therapy as prophylaxis after non-occupational exposure to HIV (MMWR 2005). The previous guidelines (1998) concluded that the panel was unable to recommend for or against antiretroviral prophylaxis since they did not find sufficient evidence about its efficacy. New data from human, animal, and laboratory studies are the basis for the current recommendations. The evidence of possible benefits from non-occupational postexposure prophylaxis (nPEP) comes from animal transmission models using SIV and HIV, perinatal clinical trials with abbreviated regimens for reducing mother-to-child HIV transmission, and different observational studies which have assessed occupational and sexual HIV exposure. The risks from the use of nPEP have been also assessed.