“Taking a pill as a preventive measure against HIV infection may not encourage people at high risk for the disease to engage in risky sexual behavior, according to a new U.S. study meant to address fears about its use,” Reuters reports. “The research, published in the Public Library of Science journal PLOS ONE, builds on the 2010 landmark study that found Gilead Sciences Inc.’s Truvada — a pill already used widely to treat the human immunodeficiency virus — was more than 90 percent effective at preventing HIV infections among test subjects who took the drug as prescribed,” the news agency writes. According to the study, “there was no increase in sexual risk behavior, and the study even showed a trend toward safer sexual practices,” Reuters notes (Steenhuysen, 12/18).