HIV post-exposure prophylaxis should be initiated as soon as possible after the exposure within-

Ans. is 'a' i.e., 1-2 hrs o Anti-retroviral drug for post-exposure prophylaxis should be initiated as soon as possible after the exposure within the first few hours and no later than 72 hours. o So, the best answer here is 1-2 hours (first few hours). The guidelines for post-exposure prophylaxis of HIV are For routine exposures o A combination of two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors for 4 weeks. For high risk or complicated exposures o A combination of two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors plus a protease inhibitor for 4 weeks, o In spite of the guidelines regimen B is given for all types of exposure. Note - Anti-retroviral drugs o Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors - Zidovudin, Stavudine, Lamivudine, Abacavir, Didanosine, Zalcitabin. o Nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors - Nevirapine, efavirenz, Delavirdine. o Protease inhibitors - Ritonavir, Indinavir, Nelfmavir, Saquinavir, Lopinavir.