When one partner is AIDS/HIV positive, there preventive drug works, as per the researchers.
Drug combination of tenofovir and emtricitabine has been seen to be effective.
Combination of condom use and this once a day pill can cut the risk of catching infection to a larger extent.
Once-daily AIDS pill can slash HIV infection risk
LONDON (Reuters) - AIDS drugs designed to treat HIV can also be used to reduce dramatically the risk of infection among heterosexual couples, two studies conducted in Africa showed for the first time on Wednesday.
Around 33 million people worldwide have the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, most living in Africa and Asia. Only about half know their HIV status, and the WHO hopes that news of an effective approach to prevention will encourage more people to get tested.
When treating HIV/AIDS, antiretrovirals are typically given in cocktails of three or more medicines. The PrEP approach of using just one daily pill is much more convenient -- and the drugs are available as generics in many poor countries at prices as low as 25 U.S. cents a tablet, according to the WHO.
For couples on Truvada -- another Gilead drug combining tenofovir and emtricitabine -- the infection risk was cut by an estimated 73 percent in the clinical trial, which was led by researchers at the University of Washington.
The study was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, whose director of HIV and Tuberculosis, Stefano Bertozzi, said it marked "a significant milestone in the quest to develop new HIV prevention measures".
The larger of the two studies examined 4,758 couples in Kenya and Uganda in which one partner was HIV-positive and one was negative. Those negative partners taking Gilead Sciences Inc's tenofovir, or Viread, had on average 62 percent fewer infections.
