The Coastal Health District of Georgia serves the counties of Bryan, Camden, Chatham, Effingham, Glynn, Liberty, Long & McIntosh
The Coastal Health District of Georgia serves the counties of Bryan, Camden, Chatham, Effingham, Glynn, Liberty, Long & McIntosh
“PrEP” stands for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis. PrEP is medicine that greatly reduces your chance of getting HIV. PrEP is available as a once daily pill or as an injection every few months. Your healthcare provider can help determine the best medication option for you.
PrEP is for people without HIV who may be exposed to HIV through sex or injection drug use.
PrEP is a powerful HIV prevention tool and can be combined with condoms and other prevention methods to provide even greater protection than when used alone. But people who use PrEP must commit to taking the medicine as prescribed for it to work. If you do not take PrEP as prescribed, there may not be enough medicine in your bloodstream to block the virus. The right amount of medicine in your bloodstream can stop HIV from taking hold and spreading in your body.
PrEP is available in every county health department in the Coastal Health District. Contact your local county health department and make an appointment to see if PrEP is right for you.
When taken as prescribed, PrEP reduces the risk of getting HIV from sex by about 99%. PrEP is much less effective if it is not taken consistently. PrEP can be even more effective if it is combined with other ways to prevent new HIV infections like condom use, drug abuse treatment, and treatment for people living with HIV to reduce the chance of passing the virus to others.
It’s important to remember that taking PrEP will not prevent you from getting syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, or other sexually transmitted diseases. Similarly, for those taking PrEP because of injection drug use risks, PrEP will not protect you from getting hepatitis C, skin, or heart infections.
Some people in clinical studies of PrEP had early side effects such as an upset stomach or loss of appetite, but these were mild and usually went away within the first month. Some people also had a mild headache. No serious side effects were observed. If you are on PrEP, you should tell your healthcare provider if these or other symptoms become severe or do not go away.