Prevention
PrEP information
PrEP is short for pre-exposure prophylaxis. Like birth control, PrEP is a pill taken daily by people who do not have HIV to protect against HIV.
Where to find PrEP
PrEP is available by prescription in the U.S. under the brand name Truvada. Truvada was first approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in 2004 to treat HIV in combination with other medications. In 2012, the FDA approved Truvada for use as PrEP for people who do not have HIV.
- CDC, HIV Basics, PrEP. March 2018.
PrEP services in Prince George's County can be found at the Prince George's County Health Department, 3003 Hospital Drive, First Floor, Cheverly, MD 20785. Use the PrEP locator to find a location near you.
Answers:
1) B: Pinch the air out of the top: Don't use scissors or your teeth to open the wrapper - you might accidentally damage the condom inside. It is best to use your fingers to tear it open gently. Once it is open you have to pinch the air out of the top and roll it down the penis or sex toy, making sure that the rim is on the outside.
2) B: FALSE: Insect bites cannot transmit HIV. When an insect (such as a mosquito) bites you and sucks your blood it does not inject the blood of the last person it bit.
3) D: Enable you to live just as long and as well as people who don't have HIV: Treatment these days is so effective that people living with HIV can live just as long as everyone else. It also keeps you healthy so that you can carry on living your life as normal. However, it still isn't a cure, as antiretroviral medicines aren't able to completely remove the virus from your body.
4) C: The level of HIV in the blood so low, it can't be detected in tests and can't be passed on: A person living with HIV is considered 'undetectable' when treatment reduces the level of virus in the body to such a low level that it can no longer be detected in tests. As long as you are undetectable, you cannot transmit HIV to others. It is important to keep having your viral load monitored so that you know your viral level hasn't changed.
5) C: 30-40 million: According to the latest estimates available, there were nearly 37 million people living with HIV worldwide.
6) B: 1 in 7: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that about 14% (or, about one in seven) of Americans who are HIV positive don’t know their status.
7) D: All of the Above: All of the U.S. government programs listed above provide either insurance coverage, care and treatment, and/or other support services for people living with HIV/AIDS who qualify.
8) D: All of the Above: T cells are a type of lymphocyte (one of the white blood cells involved in the body's immune response), which circulate in the blood and play a critical role in the immune response. While there are many kinds of T cells, the two main types are killer T cells and helper T cells. Killer T cells destroy cells that are infected or cancerous, while helper T cells are involved in signaling to coordinate the immune response.
9) D: All of the Above: The HIV virus targets T cells, infecting them and making more copies of the virus. After a long period of time (sometimes many years) without treatment, the virus destroys the infected T cells so the immune function of the body is compromised. CD4 cells are a type of T cell targeted by the HIV virus. When CD4 cell counts become very low (below 200 cells per cubic millimeter of blood [200 cells/mm3]), AIDS is present.
Quiz questions and answers on this page were taken from several different sites, listed below.
Avert.org
Rochester University
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation