Dr. Rod Ellis-Pegler The possible introduction of broadly available pre- or post-sex HIV preventative medications would be "a disaster" according to the country's most senior HIV and infectious diseases specialist. Currently New Zealand maintains a conservative approach to the treatment known as Post-Exposure Prophylaxis or PEP. Only people who know with certainty that they have been exposed to possible HIV infection can access a short sharp dose of anti-HIV medications aimed at stopping the virus before it can take hold in their bodies. However, a day-long HIV treatments seminar held in Auckland today heard from Dr Rick Franklin of the Auckland Sexual health service that serious international research into the viability of broader access to PEP and an emerging possibility of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) is continuing apace. PrEP would see people able to take the medications in anticipation of possible HIV exposure. Franklin believes eventual introduction of the treatments will be inevitable in affluent western communities, particularly those in North America, with pressure for them coming from comparatively wealthy and highly-sexualised men who have sex with men. He reported on PEP and PrEP research projects being conducted by respected northern hemisphere HIV experts and which were highlighted at the recent international HIV/AIDS conference in Vienna. However, the possibility of either PEP or PrEP becoming widely available, either in New Zealand or elsewhere, horrifies senior infectious diseases specialist Dr. Rod Ellis-Pegler. He told today's seminar that it is a sure-fire recipe for drug resistance to develop which would destroy the effectiveness of anti-HIV drugs and treatment regimes. Ellis-Pegler drew a comparison with the emergence of "pan-resistant" versions of diseases once able to be treated but now re-emerging in hospitals in nations where the use of antibiotics has not been tightly controlled. Broadened access to PEP or PrEP "will create resistance to HIV drugs," he said. "Maybe not today or tomorrow, but all my years of experience across a broad range of infectious diseases indicates that resistance will happen and that it's a recipe for disaster." Around 70 people with HIV and medics and social workers involved in HIV and AIDS treatment attended today's national seminar which was organised by Body Positive and held at the University of Otago campus in central Auckland. You can discuss this NZ gay community news story in the GayNZ.com Forum.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 20th September 2010 - 11:20pm