Hi doctor, I am 32 years old. I am on PEP that has to be taken for 28 days. I got my first dose around 40 hours of being contracted to HIV. PEP is not 100 % secure. My question is if I am lucky and the result shows HIV negative after the therapy, how often do I need to get antibody tested if luck showers on me and each time the result says negative? And if PEP does not work properly and I am tested positive, how long can be my lifespan if I stay on medications?
Hi. The answers to your queries are: For PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis) efficacy, adherence to the medications prescribed for PEP is the most important thing. PEP is really efficacious, To the best of my clinical practice, I have not seen any case of a patient who has completed PEP with complete adherence and then turned positive. There are recommendations to test at four weeks, three months and then at six months of last exposure. You need not be tested in between and if negative, no further test is required.