Undetectable?

[SecretKeeper]

Sorry for my ignorance.  I have read about people going "undetectable" and I'm just wondering if that would also mean that the possibility of transmitting HIV would be slim to none?  And on the other hand if your VL is 250,000 it is much more likely for you to transmit it then?  The VL kind of confuses me.   

[milker]

Hi Secret,

You're asking two questions. 1) what does "undetectable really means", and for that you can read this: http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=10502.msg133875#msg133875 which is a very good explanation from Gerry.

The second question you ask is 2) is it safer to have unprotected sex when the VL is undetectable? This has been discussed a lot of times, and I'm not sure what is the best thread about it, so others may give you good links, or just discuss it here !

Milker.

[Matty the Damned]

SK,

It's true that someone with an undetectable VL is probably less likely to transmit the virus than someone with a high VL, is it really something you want to chance?

Undetectable people can and do transmit the virus.

MtD

[Cerrid]

Sorry for my ignorance.  I have read about people going "undetectable" and I'm just wondering if that would also mean that the possibility of transmitting HIV would be slim to none?  And on the other hand if your VL is 250,000 it is much more likely for you to transmit it then?  The VL kind of confuses me.   

Infection risk and VL are closely related. The higher the VL, the higher the probability to transmit the virus. That's why many docs think that starting meds early is a way to reduce infection rates, and there are many studies which support this claim.

In fact, there isn't a single documented case worldwide that someone who is on meds and has an undetectable viral load has infected someone else. So, "slim to none" is the right expression.

However, as for the time being, this observation should not be taken as a free ticket to go raw. For a proper risk assessment, further studies need to be done as to the correlation of blood viral load vs. semen viral load, influence of adherence, critical virus concentration threshold for infection, importance of STD-induced lesions which may facilitate virus entry etc.