After reading some of the recent threads about hiv, a question I've had for a while now popped up in my mind again, so I figured I'd ask. A guy I know who's hiv+ told me that if your viral load is undetectable (as in, you've been diagnozed, are on meds, and now your viral load is very low), you cannot transmit it to other people. Is that true? I apologize if this is the dumbest question anyone has ever heard, it's just that I don't know anything about this, and at the risk of sounding like an ignorant dumbass, I thought the only way to know for sure is ask. This is all out of curiosity, by the way -- I've been questioning the statement ever since I heard it and would like to know the truth. (and didn't want to stalk the other posters' threads) Thank you.
I'm no expert so idk if I'm right but .... A lower viral load decreases the chance of transmission but definitely doesn't make it impossible
It's not a dumb question and it's something that is being heavily studied at the moment. There's a group of married couples (primarily hetero) where one partner is HIV+ and the other is HIV-. Because they may be interested in having children, there's a need to evaluate the risk of unprotected sex relative to viral load. There's a second population that is being studied- primarily in sub-Saharan Africa where HIV is epidemic and medications for HIV have only recently become widely available. The studies do way that lower viral load does seem to equate to lower rates of HIV transmission in heterosexual couples who are having vaginal intercourse. There's some ethical concerns about studying higher risk populations- particularly those having anal sex without protection. So, there's not a lot of research that would support forgoing condoms just because the HIV+ partner has a low viral load.
I concur with that assessment. A viral load of "undetectable" and "zero" are different; even someone with an "undetectable" load has some virus present. While the risk is obviously much, much lower... it's still not a risk I'd take.
