Another significant change in 2015 is acceptance for how ART reduces the chance of transmitting HIV.
With an undetectable viral load, in many cases this risk is close to zero.
Although this has been known for many years, there is now much better evidence, including for gay men as well as heterosexual couples.
- The European PARTNER study reported no transmissions from the positive partner with an undetectable viral load.
- This was after 44,500 times that people had vaginal or anal sex without condoms.
- This study is still ongoing for gay men because there were more heterosexual couples in the first part of the study.
- Condoms are still important if you want to protect against pregnancy and some STIs.
The HPTN-052 study — also in couples where one person was positive and the other was negative — showed that this protection for ART continues for years when viral load is undetectable.