A new study shows that giving injecting drug users a daily AIDS drug cut the rate of HIV cases by nearly one half.
The four-year study, published in the medical journal Lancet, was carried out on 2,400 drug users in Thailand -- addicts who inject themselves with drugs such as heroin.
Among those who took a daily dose of the AIDS drug tenofovir, 17 developed HIV, compared to 33 patients who took a placebo.
Previous tests with tenofovir were also successful in cutting the HIV rate among homosexuals and heterosexual couples where one of the partners was HIV positive.
The four-year study, published in the medical journal Lancet, was carried out on 2,400 drug users in Thailand -- addicts who inject themselves with drugs such as heroin.
Among those who took a daily dose of the AIDS drug tenofovir, 17 developed HIV, compared to 33 patients who took a placebo.
Previous tests with tenofovir were also successful in cutting the HIV rate among homosexuals and heterosexual couples where one of the partners was HIV positive.