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EDITORIAL

Sexually transmitted infection testing and prevalence among MSM using event-based dosing HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis

Kiersten Simmons A , Colin Fitzpatrick A and Daniel Richardson https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0955-6307 A B *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Sexual Health & HIV Medicine, University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, Brighton BN2 5BE, UK.

B Brighton & Sussex Medical School, Brighton, UK.

* Correspondence to: docdanielr@hotmail.com

Handling Editor: Roy Chan

Sexual Health 20(2) 177-179 https://doi.org/10.1071/SH22192
Submitted: 3 December 2022  Accepted: 11 January 2023   Published: 30 January 2023

© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing

Abstract

Event-based dosing (EBD) of HIV PrEP is as effective at preventing HIV transmission in MSM as daily dosing. There are limited data on the differences in STI testing frequency between MSM using EBD-PrEP and daily dosing. A total of 20% of 418 PrEP users were using EBD-PrEP and had a lower number of sexual partners (22 (27%) vs 142 (42%), P = 0.008), tested for STIs less frequently (115 (18%) vs 69 (50%), P < 0.001), but were diagnosed with a similar number of STIs ((35% vs 34%, P = 0.54) compared to daily users. More research is needed to understand the optimal frequency for STI testing in MSM using EBD PrEP.

Keywords: Chlamydia trachomatis, HIV prevention, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, pre-exposure prophylaxis, sexual behaviour, sexually transmitted infections, sexually transmitted infection testing, Treponema pallidum.


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