Post-exposure prophylaxis
| Post-exposure prophylaxis | |
|---|---|
| Intervention | |
| eMedicine | 1991375 |
Post-exposure prophylaxis, also known as post-exposure prevention (PEP), is any preventive medical treatment started after exposure to a pathogen (such as a disease-causing virus), in order to prevent the infection from occurring.
PEP is commonly and very effectively used to prevent the outbreak of rabies after a bite by a rabid animal. The treatment consists of a series of injections of rabies vaccine and immunoglobulin.Rabies vaccine is given to both humans and animals who have been potentially exposed to rabies.
Tetanus toxoid can be given in case of a suspected exposure to tetanus. In such cases, it can be given with or without tetanus immunoglobulin (also called tetanus antibodies or tetanus antitoxin). It can be given as intravenous therapy or by intramuscular injection.
The guidelines for such events in the United States for non-pregnant people 11 years and older are as follows:
AZT was approved as a treatment for AIDS in 1987. As AIDS patients started seeking treatment in medical centers, it sometimes happened that a healthcare worker would be exposed to HIV during work. Some people thought to try giving health care workers AZT to prevent seroconversion. This practice dramatically decreased the incidence of seroconversion among health workers when done under certain conditions.
Later the question arose of whether to give HIV treatment to people who had non-occupational exposure, for example, when a condom breaks while a person with HIV has unprotected sex with an HIV-negative person in a single incidence, or in the case of unprotected sex with an anonymous partner, or in the case of a non-habitual incident of sharing a syringe for injection drug use. Evidence suggests that PEP also reduces the risk of HIV infection in these cases.
Since taking HIV-attacking medications shortly after exposure was proven to reduce the risk of contracting HIV, this led to research into pre-exposure prophylaxis by taking medication before a potential exposure to HIV occurred.
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