July 05, 2006
Okay, you can stop taking the survey now. Actually, as of one minute ago, 137 people had responded, and the survey site now won't let me view the responses unless I pay them money. I am curious, yes, but not $19.99 curious.
So the point of this was that, though I am a reasonably smart, well-informed fellow, I first heard of post-exposure prophylaxis only a few months ago. I was trying to figure out whether this was simply a fluke, and everybody knew about this except me, or whether it really is an obscure piece of information even though every health worker who deals with high-risk populations should be trumpeting it from the rooftops.
However, now I will never know.
Posted by Faustus, MD at 10:30 AM
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Comments
1) Jeffrey said (on 07/ 5/06 at 11:41 AM):
Well, if you must know, I thought I knew what it meant in general just by defining the words, but I looked it up on Google just to make sure. Now why isn't that bigger news?
2) Aidan said (on 07/ 5/06 at 01:05 PM):
I have a nephew who had to undergo a regime last month for exposure to rabies. (Their effing cat, a born killer if there ever was one, brought a half-dead bat into his bedroom where it proceeded to spew blood and expose him.) Consequently, I am aware of P.E.P. Not as aware as my nephew, who was injected with a massive quantity of rabies immunoglobulin.
I agree that PEP could and should be a useful tool in the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS. But I can also see the argument that a month-long PEP of antiretrovirals is very expensive...enough to buy a whole lot of condoms.
What with your Missus being a doctor, I would be interested to hear his thoughts on the subject.
3) David said (on 07/ 5/06 at 01:43 PM):
I had heard about this a while ago, but only because I have trafficked in questionable sex practices and my GP thought I should know about it.
4) bitchphd said (on 07/ 5/06 at 01:49 PM):
Dude, I'm a straight woman and I know what it is. Not all the details (like what the regimen or meds are), but I know that if you find out you're exposed to HIV (or other things), you go see a doc right away and start taking something in order to prevent the virus from taking root, as it were.
I'll go along with the "it should be better publicized" argument, as long as you'll let me tsk tsk at you for being a frivolous young thing who should be doing more reading rather than just shaking his money-maker all over town.
5) Chris said (on 07/ 5/06 at 08:02 PM):
Gawd, don't worry faustus, its only cos you americans are dim and don't care about each other. PEP is fairly promoted and advertised here, like ads in the gay papers and such.
6) The Other Adam said (on 07/ 7/06 at 01:38 PM):
PEP has been around for ages, but last I read into the subject the issue is that there's not solid guarantee that it will work/not work -- it's SOP most of the time, I believe, for any health-care employee who has a needlestick/blood spill type of event with a patient known to have HIV, but for a 'regular' person to get it you have to request it -- and most people don't know to ask.
About a year ago a friend of mine had an unsafe sexual experience and she went to an emergency room and asked for a PEP course, which they gave her. I've always presumed that the lack of exposure was a result of America's usual combo of money (we don't want to spend $$ on this until we can prove it works) and homophobia (nurses? sure! Faggots? No!)
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