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 diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and ...

for the purpose of preventing

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

infection An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dis ...

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 o ...

, for example, may be administered to patients with disorders of

immune system The immune system is a network of biological processes that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, as well as cancer cells and objects such as wood splint ...

function to prevent bacterial

s (particularly opportunistic infection). 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 ...

, or to patients who have repeated infections (such as

urinary tract infection A urinary tract infection (UTI) is an infection that affects part of the urinary tract. When it affects the lower urinary tract it is known as a bladder infection (cystitis) and when it affects the upper urinary tract it is known as a kidne ...

s) 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 Intrathecal administration is a route of administration for drugs via an injection into the spinal canal, or into the subarachnoid space so that it reaches the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and is useful in spinal anesthesia, chemotherapy, or pain ma ...

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. Chemothe ...

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, consequence ...

. 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 monetar ...

. __TOC__

Specific diseases

Using chemoprophylaxis as a treatment against early signs of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

has proven to be effective. In

familial adenomatous polyposis Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is an autosomal dominant inherited condition in which numerous adenomatous polyps form mainly in the epithelium of the large intestine. While these polyps start out benign, malignant transformation into colon ...

physicians observed polyps regression with

NSAID Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) are members of a therapeutic drug class which reduces pain, decreases inflammation, decreases fever, and prevents blood clots. Side effects depend on the specific drug, its dose and duration of ...

s for anti-inflammatory therapy. Chemoprophylaxis is also used to treat several different varieties of meningococcal infections for close contact exposure to

Neisseria meningitidis ''Neisseria meningitidis'', often referred to as meningococcus, is a Gram-negative bacterium that can cause meningitis and other forms of meningococcal disease such as meningococcemia, a life-threatening sepsis. The bacterium is referred to as a ...

. The

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...

recommends chemoprevention to prevent Malaria in the Sahel region of Sub-Saharan Africa through the use of the drugs sulfadoxine/pyrimethamine 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 percentag ...

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