Zero HIV transmissions in gay men not using condoms on HIV treatment

Men on effective HIV treatment, where the virus is reduced to undetectable levels are sexually non-infectious, finds an eight-year study led by UCL and the University of Copenhagen. The preliminary findings of the PARTNER2 study will be presented at the 2018 AIDS conference in Amsterdam tomorrow. The study, which is the largest to look at the risk of HIV transmission when one partner is positive and on effective anti-retroviral treatment (ART) finds that having an undetectable viral load is as protective for gay men as it is for heterosexual couples. Almost 1,000 gay male serodifferent couples (one partner is HIV-positive on ART, one is HIV-negative) from 14 different countries in Europe were involved in the study between September 2010 and April 2018. Over this time couples reported almost 77,000 episodes of condomless anal sex with no linked HIV transmissions occurring. "The PARTNER2 study was designed to find whether HIV transmission occurs in gay men when viral load was suppressed. Despite these couples having sex without condoms 75,000 times we did not find a single case," said lead author, Dr Alison Rodger (UCL Institute for Global Health).