Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP)If you or your partner have been exposed to HIV, post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is medication which may prevent a person from becoming HIV positive. HIV takes a few days to become established in the body. PEP helps the body’s immune system to stop the virus from replicating in infected cells. These originally infected cells then die without producing new copies of the virus. PEP must be taken as soon as possible and definitely no later than 72 hours after exposure to HIV. The sooner treatment is started, the more likely it is to work. PEP is a month long course of HIV medication. They need to be taken strictly according to their dosing schedules. Sometimes drugs used for PEP have unpleasant side-effects including nausea, diarrhoea, but these are temporary. PEP is available from every hospital with a pharmacy. The hospitals all have starter kits. This includes three days of medications which should be taken while a full course of PEP is ordered from a larger hospital. It is recommended to take written information (i.e. a brochure or similar) about PEP when presenting to the Emergency Department, and inform the staff that that this is a ‘medical emergency’. When asking for PEP, the doctor or nurse will ask what happened to make you think it’s needed. They’re not being judgemental they simply need to know what happened so they can determine how likely it is that HIV exposure has happened.
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