Chemoprevention (also chemoprophylaxis) refers to the administration of a

medication A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to medical diagnosis, diagnose, cure, treat, or preventive medicine, prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an imp ...

for the purpose of preventing disease or infection.

Antibiotics An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention ...

, for example, may be administered to patients with disorders of immune system function to prevent bacterial infections (particularly

opportunistic infection An opportunistic infection is an infection caused by pathogens ( bacteria, fungi, parasites or viruses) that take advantage of an opportunity not normally available. These opportunities can stem from a variety of sources, such as a weakened immu ...

). Antibiotics may also be administered to healthy individuals to limit the spread of an

epidemic An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics of infectious d ...

, or to patients who have repeated infections (such as urinary tract infections) to prevent recurrence. It may also refer to the administration of heparin to prevent deep venous thrombosis in hospitalized patients. In some cases, chemoprophylaxis is initiated to prevent the spread of an existing infection in an individual to a new organ system, as when intrathecal

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemother ...

is administered in patients with

malignancy Malignancy () is the tendency of a medical condition to become progressively worse. Malignancy is most familiar as a characterization of cancer. A ''malignant'' tumor contrasts with a non-cancerous ''benign'' tumor in that a malignancy is not s ...

to prevent further infection. The use of chemoprophylaxis is limited primarily by two factors: risk and financial costs. * All medications have the potential to cause

side effects In medicine, a side effect is an effect, whether therapeutic or adverse, that is secondary to the one intended; although the term is predominantly employed to describe adverse effects, it can also apply to beneficial, but unintended, consequenc ...

. In general, chemoprophylaxis should be initiated only when the benefits of treatment outweigh the risks. * The cost associated with chemoprophylaxis may be prohibitive, particularly when the cost of treatment is high or the incidence of the target disease is low. Many forms of chemoprophylaxis are therefore not

cost-effective Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) is a form of economic analysis that compares the relative costs and outcomes (effects) of different courses of action. Cost-effectiveness analysis is distinct from cost–benefit analysis, which assigns a moneta ...

. __TOC__

Specific diseases

Using chemoprophylaxis as a treatment against early signs of tuberculosis has proven to be effective. In familial adenomatous polyposis physicians observed polyps regression with NSAIDs for anti-inflammatory therapy. Chemoprophylaxis is also used to treat several different varieties of meningococcal infections for close contact exposure to Neisseria meningitidis. The World Health Organization recommends chemoprevention to prevent Malaria in the Sahel region of Sub-Saharan Africa through the use of the drugs

sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine Sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine, sold under the brand name Fansidar, is a combination medication used to treat malaria. It contains sulfadoxine (a sulfonamide) and pyrimethamine (an antiprotozoal). For the treatment of malaria it is typically used a ...

and

amodiaquine Amodiaquine (ADQ) is a medication used to treat malaria, including ''Plasmodium falciparum'' malaria when uncomplicated. It is recommended to be given with artesunate to reduce the risk of resistance. Due to the risk of rare but serious side effec ...

. This technique is called Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC). The charity evaluator

GiveWell GiveWell is an American non-profit charity assessment and effective altruism-focused organization. GiveWell focuses primarily on the cost-effectiveness of the organizations that it evaluates, rather than traditional metrics such as the percenta ...

lists the Malaria Consortium's SMC program as one of its priority programs due to its high level of cost-effectiveness and ability to absorbe additional funding.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{Citation , last1 = Woolf , first1 = Steven H. , last2 = Jonas , first2 = Steven , last3 = Kaplan-Liss , first3 = Evonne , title = Health Promotion and Disease Prevention in Clinical Practice , publisher = Lippincott Williams & Wilkins , pages = 346–358 , year = 2008 , isbn = 978-0781775991 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=rDEa3YLDfwwC&pg=PA346 , postscript= . {{Citation , last1 = Golan , first1 = David E. , title = Principles of Pharmacology: The Pathophysiologic Basis of Drug Therapy , publisher = Lippincott Williams & Wilkins , page = 578 , year = 2008 , isbn = 978-0781783552 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=az8uSDkB0mgC&pg=PA578 , postscript= . Medical terminology Medical treatments Prevention

Specific diseases

See also

References