pre-exposure prophylaxis

English

Pronunciation

Audio (Northern California, US)

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Noun

pre-exposure prophylaxis (uncountable)

1. (medicine) A form of prevention, usually medication, that is taken before exposure to a pathogen, preventing development of disease after such exposure.

   Synonym: PrEP

   1. (especially) A preventative medical regiment of HIV medicines used to protect against HIV seroconversion after an exposure.

      Some doctors will prescribe pre-exposure prophylaxis to sexually active people to prevent them from getting HIV/AIDS.

Hypernyms

• prevention
• preventive
• prophylaxis

Coordinate terms

• PEP = post-exposure prophylaxis
• vaccination (idiomatically often coordinate despite that hyponymy might be expected)