Myth or Truth: Is It Worth It to Take a Preventive Med Daily?

Editor's Note: There are, unfortunately, many myths going around about pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP -- the use of an antiretroviral drug by HIV-negative people to prevent them from being infected with HIV during sex. This month we'll look at one myth per day and offer evidence why it's not true.

Myth: It's ridiculous to take a pill every day to prevent something -- for instance, why take something daily to prevent a sexually transmitted infection when you (probably) don't have sex every day? And isn't it hard to keep to this routine?

Truth: We take pills daily to prevent lots of things -- medications to prevent allergy attacks, contraceptives to prevent pregnancy, vitamins to prevent a variety of health problems. We also take medication to specifically prevent diseases such as malaria and typhoid, even if we're healthy, especially when we travel to certain parts of the world. People can adjust to taking a daily medication every day, so fears that people are not responsible enough to take daily PrEP treatment are unfounded. Taking a daily pill is not a new idea and it's easy to make it part of your routine.