July 23, 2015
The results of a decadelong study suggest the risk of passing HIV onto a heterosexual romantic partner while on prompt antiretroviral therapy (ART) is remarkable low.
The study, sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, followed 1,171 heterosexual couples, each with one HIV-infected partner, from 10 different countries, including the United States, from 2005 to 2015.
Of those undergoing treatment, there were only eight cases of virus transmission, four of which happened right before or after treatment had started, indicating that the virus had not yet been subdued, according to analysis of the study by Medical Daily.
The other four happened when the HIV-infected partner’s viral load began to climb back up.
Overall, the study found that the risk of infection was reduced by 93 percent when the HIV-infected partner’s virus was “stably suppressed by antiretroviral therapy.”
Read the full Medical Daily article here.
