TREATMENT OF PEOPLE WITH SIGNIFICANT RISK OF INFECTION
If a person has experienced a significant exposure to a body fluid known to present a risk for HIV transmission, then a decision must be made about whether to start medications, such as zidovudine, that may prevent that person from becoming infected. The decision must be reached in consultation with a health care provider and must be based on the information provided by the most current studies.
Treatment of people with significant risk of infection with zidovudine following an exposure to blood or other potentially infectious body fluids reduced the likelihood that they would become infected. The sooner medication was started, the more protection was offered. The current recommendation for massive exposure is to start therapy with zidovudine, 3TC, and indinavir (triple therapy) within one hour after the exposure and continue for twenty-eight days. If a person had a very-high-risk exposure and the medications were not initiated within this time frame, then in some situations they may be started later. These medications obviously have side effects, and the decision to use them must be an individual one. About one-third of those who have begun taking these medications after exposure discontinue them because of their side effects.
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