U.S.: Give out more HIV prevention pills

ATLANTA -- Doctors should consider giving an AIDS prevention pill to women and heterosexual men who are at high risk for getting the virus, U.S. health officials said Thursday.

The government previously advised doctors to give the once-a-day pill Truvada only to high-risk gay and bisexual men. However, more than a quarter of new HIV cases each year are heterosexuals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Truvada has been on the market since 2004 to treat those who have the AIDS virus. After studies showed it could help prevent infection, doctors were told they could prescribe it as a preventive for men at high risk. Since then, studies have found it also can prevent the virus in women and heterosexual men.

The CDC is not recommending the pill for all sexually active heterosexuals. And even among couples in which one person has HIV, regular condom use generally is effective protection. But the pill would be a good option for a couple that wanted to have a baby," said Dr. Dawn Smith, the CDC physician who was lead author of the new guidance, describing one possible scenario. -- AP