Professor of Medicine at UNC, Dr. Jose Victor Garcia-Martinez says researchers at UNC have found a “PrEP” treatment that may help people at high risk to HIV prevent infection.

He says mice that have been genetically altered to have human immune systems became resistant to infection of the HIV virus after receiving a combination of medications that have already been given to patients.

The mice were given the commonly prescribed antiretroviral therapy Truvada. They were then exposed to the HIV virus either rectally or intravenously, mimicking the common way humans become infected with HIV.  Rectal exposure is the leading cause of HIV transmission among men who have sex with men. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, HIV diagnoses have increased by 15-percent between 2004 and 2007.

Dr. Garcia-Martinez warns against calling the treatment a vaccine.

He says it would be akin to a woman taking birth control to prevent pregnancy or someone taking baby aspirin to prevent a heart attack.

The research mice are known as “BLT” animals because they were transplanted with human bone marrow, liver, and thymus cells which result in a fully functioning human immune system.  The research has now progressed to human trials. Dr. Gracia-Martinez believes within a year it can be determined that the treatment does indeed work.