Preventing HIV Infection-What Pediatricians Should Know About HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis

I recently diagnosed my first adolescent patient with new-onset HIV. As a primary care pediatrician, these cases are rare. I cried with the shock of the initial diagnosis, just as the patient did when I told him. One of my first thoughts was how could I have served him better. He had been inconsistent with condom use, and had several partners. I had encouraged safe sex practices, told him to talk to his partners about pregnancy prevention, and screened for sexually transmitted disease nearly every time he came into my office. However, there was one more thing I could have done that may have spared him this diagnosis in the first place. I could have prescribed HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). This article is meant to introduce primary care pediatricians to the idea of HIV PrEP. The article reviews patient eligibility, how to prescribe HIV PrEP, as well as drug monitoring and follow-up. [Pediatr Ann. 2018;47(1):e2-e4.].