A new HIV study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that an existing HIV treatment medication can also help in preventing the virus.  More from the Washington Post:

When gay men at high risk of becoming infected with HIV through sex take a daily dose of antiretroviral drugs, their chance of catching the virus drops by at least 40 percent, according to a new study.

The protective benefit could be as high as 95 percent if a person is extremely attentive about not missing a dose, the research on nearly 2,500 men on four continents found.

The study provides further proof that the drugs that have transformed AIDS treatment over the past 15 years might be powerful tools in preventing infection, as well. Earlier evidence of that appeared last summer, when a study testing a vaginal gel containing an AIDS drug lowered African women’s risk of acquiring HIV by 40 percent.

“This study really represents what I think is a major advance in HIV prevention research,” said Kevin Fenton, a physician who directs AIDS prevention activities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was not involved in the study. The findings were published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.  Read the rest of the story at the Washington Post.

Tags: AIDS study, HIV prevention study, HIV study, New England Journal of Medicine