A “morning after” treatment for the AIDS virus can help prevent infection after a rape, contact with a contaminated needle or even a night of passion without a condom, U.S. health officials said on Thursday.Taking drug cocktails for four weeks seems to greatly reduce the risk of becoming infected with the virus, which is transmitted through sex -- heterosexual and homosexual -- drug use and shared needles, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.These drug cocktails, called highly active antiretroviral therapy or HAART, are routinely taken for life by HIV-infected patients who can afford it and have access. HAART can keep a patient healthy despite infection with the deadly and incurable virus.The CDC said there was no ethical way to do a random trial comparing post-exposure prevention to a placebo or dummy pill.But trials on animals and studies of rape victims and of people at high risk of HIV infection because of their behavior have shown that taking a two- or three-drug cocktail after the possible exposure does prevent infection.
