Gay SF Official Makes Unusual HIV Announcement

[natina]

Gay SF Official Makes Unusual HIV Announcement

Scott Wiener may be first public figure to disclose Truvada use

A San Francisco official looks to be the first public figure in the country to "come out of the PrEP closet," as he puts it in a piece for the Huffington Post. Scott Wiener—who represents a district he calls "ground zero for the HIV epidemic"—says he takes the daily antiviral pill Truvada to lower his risk of contracting HIV. He's urging other gay men to do the same. "A much larger segment of gay men should be taking a close look" at what's known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, Wiener tells the New York Times. Truvada as PrEP has been very slow to catch on across the country, which Wiener writes sees 50,000 new HIV infections each year. Researchers say PrEP could reduce the risk of HIV infection by up to 99% if taken as prescribed.
The World Health Organization made a similar case to Wiener's this summer, but the San Francisco Chronicle calls Wiener's announcement "significant because so few people have been willing to talk openly about their use of Truvada." Though the drug's list price is just over $1,000 a month, Wiener says PrEP is covered by most health insurers (he personally pays $15 a month). For the uninsured or those with high-deductible plans, however, the price can be a problem. Wiener's colleague, David Campos, says he will ask the city's health department to develop a strategy that "addresses the educational and affordability issues" by December. "We have to start somewhere," says Campos, who adds that every prevented infection saves $355,000 in treatment costs.


http://www.newser.com/story/196067/g...ouncement.html

[Westheangelino]

^ hell yeah!!!!!!!

[fred41]

^ hell yeah!!!!!!!

God I wish I had been able to buy more stock at the time...but I was low on cash, so I invested a pittance.
Gilead Sciences is awesome.
Thanks Wes...I only wish you had started your thread earlier.

[lifeisfiction]

The drug is not effective as you think. Here is the breakdown of the study and its scary. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/17/up...abt=0002&abg=0

[Westheangelino]

^ Subsequent follow up studies have come out since that article was written backing up the efficacy when truvada is strictly adhered to.

So awesome to see a public official unashamed of protecting himself!

[Prospero]

Publish a link to those subsequent studies then Wes

[Westheangelino]

^ Not interested in reposting things that were simply ignored or not read in my original thread on Truvada, but you should definitely give that whole thread a read.

[broncofan]

^ Not interested in reposting things that were simply ignored or not read in my original thread on Truvada, but you should definitely give that whole thread a read.

Maybe people are ready to listen. You have to understand the skepticism when one week you say a bareback insertive partner has no risk of getting HIV and then the next that taking Truvada is the responsible thing to do.

[lifeisfiction]

^ Not interested in reposting things that were simply ignored or not read in my original thread on Truvada, but you should definitely give that whole thread a read.

I went and reread the whole thread, sigh. The articles about Truvada where written before the NY Times article. Any article afterward discussed the rates of HIV transmission and the only article that discussed Truvada only stated the PreP will lower your chances and that has been proven over and over. It is effective with other forms of protection such as condoms. So no, you never produced an article stating otherwise the effectiveness of the study. Yes it will lower your chances, but its not as effective or more so it alone is a poor method of protection.

[Westheangelino]

I went and reread the whole thread, sigh. The articles about Truvada where written before the NY Times article. Any article afterward discussed the rates of HIV transmission and the only article that discussed Truvada only stated the PreP will lower your chances and that has been proven over and over. It is effective with other forms of protection such as condoms. So no, you never produced an article stating otherwise the effectiveness of the study. Yes it will lower your chances, but its not as effective or more so it alone is a poor method of protection.

This is what I'm talking about. You actually just said: "alone it is a poor method of protection", which proves to me that you either didn't read or didn't comprehend anything.

This is why I stopped discussing this here. Here is a group at very high risk for HIV (especially my fellow tranny chasers due to the often closeted aspect of it) who don't want to hear about something that can not only save by change their lives.

You can say what you want about me and my personal behavior, but I didn't conduct the studies, do the research or write the articles. As I've stated over and over: you don't need to believe me. Believe the CDC, the WHO, the States of Mass., Michigan, and NY, and now a SF supervisor.


We can END HIV in 25 years. If you want to.....