The CDC has released interim recommendations on providing pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV in very-high-risk heterosexual adults — for example, those whose partners are infected.

Among the recommendations, published in MMWR:

• Before prescribing PrEP, clinicians should screen patients for sexually transmitted infections and hepatitis B.
• Clinicians should explain to women that the effect of the drugs on the developing fetus is not fully known, but no harms have been reported so far. Breast-feeding mothers should not receive PrEP.
• When pregnant women take PrEP, clinicians can anonymously submit data on the pregnancy to the Antiretroviral Pregnancy Registry.
• Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) 300 mg plus emtricitabine (FTC) 200 mg (i.e., one Truvada tablet) should be taken daily, and patients should be given no more than a 90-day supply.
• HIV tests should be administered every 2 to 3 months.
• Women should take a pregnancy test at each follow-up visit.

Source: MMWR