The Swiss Federal Commission for HIV/AIDS recently released a public statement, indicating that there is no plausible threat of sexual transmission of HIV for HIV+ persons undergoing antiretroviral therapy. Of course, there are several caveats to this rather consequential statement. For example, the person must receive active physician-supervised antiretroviral therapy, and must demonstrate low levels of virus in the blood consistent with an effective therapy for at least six months (viral load less than 40 copies/ml). Most importantly, the individual must not have an STI (sexually transmitted infection), which would exclude patients with AIDS from this zero-risk group.

This is a promising piece of news that may allow HIV+ people to lead more normal lives. However, do recall that the good news only benefits patients who have access to the expensive antiretroviral regimens. In poor countries, only 1 in 4 people has such access.1

References: (1)