© 2004 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, British Association for Accident & Emergency Medicine, & Faculty of Accident & Emergency Medicine
COMMENTARY
HIV post-exposure prohpylaxis
HIV post-exposure prophylaxis after sexual assault
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr J Crossley
Sheffield Children’s Hospital, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 3TA, UK; j.crossley@sheffield.ac.uk
The decision for HIV post-exposure prophylaxis after sexual assault should be considered on an individual basis
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Merchant and colleagues report an audit of adherence in their paediatric emergency department to the New York State Department of Health guidelines on HIV post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).1 The guidelines recommend that every victim of unprotected vaginal or anal rape presenting within 36 hours should receive HIV PEP unless the assailant is known to be HIV negative. Where possible, they should receive treatment within one hour of assault. Over six months, 14 of 25 patients received HIV PEP. No patient presented within one hour. Even after presentation, the minimum triage to medication time was two hours. The authors suggest strategies to speed the delivery of prophylaxis.
Many of the important questions come well before an audit of adherence to guidelines. What are the risks associated with sexual assault? What are the risks and benefits of HIV PEP?
These are thorny issues, and it is notable that only a
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