Doctors from St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan developed an application (a "widget") geared toward emergency HIV exposure treatment. Not many people know this, but PEP (post-exposure prophylactic treatment) is a series of drugs an individual who thinks she has just been infected (72-hours after the supposed infection max.) can take to perhaps prevent the virus from spreading. The treatment apparently works for 80 percent of patients and is, I suppose, a kind of day-after pill. The widget supposedly explains how to proceed with the treatment. It seems like a good idea considering the immediacy of a widget compared to the sluggish lines for most STD/HIV-testing centers. Unfortunately, however, HIV exposure may be more linked to habitual behavior (i.e. "barebacking"), not so much out-of-the-ordinary "oh my God, the condom broke" scenarios. Maybe they can develop a PEP treatment in the form of a daily vitamin tablet?
No comments:
Post a Comment