Are you HIV+ or dating someone with HIV? You've probably heard of a recent Swiss study that asserted that "people with undectable viral loads are sexually non-infectious." Turns out that isn't the case.
Here's the Reuters article:
Even if the risk of HIV transmission for a single sexual contact is fairly small, it is not zero, and the risk from exposure becomes substantial over large numbers of sexual contacts, the Australian study found. The researchers' risk assessment was based on mathematical models of 10,000 serodiscordant couples having 100 unprotected sexual contacts per year over a decade.
"The expected number of HIV infections would be 3,524 for male-to-male transmission, corresponding to an increase in incidence of four times compared with incidence under current rates of condom use," said the study.
"When the viral load goes down in the blood due to antiretrovirals, it might not go down in the semen or vaginal and anal fluids," said Australasian Society for HIV Medicine President Jonathan Anderson, who was not involved in the research. "Antiretrovirals can complement consistent condom use, but replacing condom use with medications may end in disaster."
1 comment:
When someone is on the ARV drugs and though their viral load is undetectable it does not mean that they cannot pass on the virus to their partner. It is also dangerous to stop using condoms because getting the virus from someone who is on therapy as you become resilient
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