UNC Expert Available to Discuss HIV Prevention During National Testing Day

UNC resources include a PrEP locator 

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – June 27th is National HIV Testing Day in the United States. In addition to regular testing, infectious diseases physicians at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill encourage those at risk for infection to consider taking PrEP or pre-exposure prophylaxis to prevent HIV.
 
Christopher Hurt, M.D., assistant professor of infectious diseases with the UNC School of Medicine, is available to discuss HIV prevention with reporters and editors leading up to and on National HIV Testing Day.  Interested media outlets should contact Morag MacLachlan at 919-843-5719 and via morag_maclachlan@med.unc.edu.
  
“HIV prevention is really important. Mainly, you are protecting your personal health. HIV really takes a toll on your body and on your immune system,” said Dr. Hurt. “Separately from that though, HIV still carries a lot of stigma in the United States.”
 
Hurt is the co-director of the North Carolina AIDS Training and Education Center (NC ATEC) based at UNC. The center offers providers and patients information about PrEP, the once daily pill to prevent HIV, including a map of providers throughout the state. UNC’s Infectious Diseases Clinic prescribes PrEP and the clinic’s physicians are also leading studies testing another pill, an injection and an infusion of antibodies to prevent HIV.
 
“We are really trying to create a broad menu of options for people to use,” Hurt said. “And these studies are really a vital part of moving that agenda forward, to try and really say can we give you options that are less frequent or by injection, very similar to what women have for contraception.”

The mission of UNC’s Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases is to harness the full resources of the University and its partners to solve global health problems, reduce the burden of disease, and cultivate the next generation of global health leaders. Learn more at www.globalhealth.unc.edu.