BALTIMORE (MCT) — The federal government has for the first time approved a drug that can prevent an HIV infection, a significant development for areas and groups with high transmission rates for the virus that can develop into AIDS.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Truvada in 2004 to treat HIV, but on Monday said it can also be used to increase the odds of stopping the disease from taking hold in high-risk people such as gay men, intravenous drug users and sex workers.

“In the ’80s and early ’90s, HIV was viewed as a life-threatening disease; in some parts of the world it still is. Medical advances, along with the availability of close to 30 approved individual HIV drugs, have enabled us to treat it as a chronic disease most of the time,” said Dr. Debra Birnkrant, director of the division of antiviral products at FDA, in a statement.