Scientists at the University of Liverpool have contributed to research findings that show effective antiretroviral treatment prevents sexual transmission of HIV in gay men.
The final results of the PARTNER study are published in the leading medical journal The Lancet. The study reports zero HIV transmissions over eight years in gay men not using condoms, finally confirming that an undetectable viral load on HIV treatment renders an individual sexually non-infectious.
Almost 1,000 gay male couples contributed to the PARTNER2 study. One partner was HIV negative and the other was HIV positive and on effective HIV treatment with viral load less than 200 copies/mL.
With up to eight years follow up and approximately 77,000 times that couples had sex without using condoms, the PARTNER2 study reported that there were no HIV transmissions within the couples in the study. The results showed that ART is just as effective for gay couples as an earlier phase of the study proved it was for heterosexual couples. This is important because without a positive partner being on treatment, anal sex is at higher risk for HIV transmission compared to vaginal sex.