U=U

U=U stands for “undetectable equals untransmittable,” sometimes also described as “treatment as prevention” or TasP. People living with HIV who have been reliably taking their antiretroviral medications and have achieved virological suppression (an undetectable HIV RNA in the blood) are not considered infectious to others. Here, you can find some of the key data that supported the international U=U campaign. If you have questions, feel free to get in touch with us!

U=U Resources

• Prevention Access Campaign

• Overview of data supporting U=U (2019 editorial in JAMA)

• POZ.com: Understanding U=U (2019)

Clinical Trials

• 2000 – Rakai (Uganda) Project Study Group (New England Journal of Medicine)

  • The first paper to describe a viral load threshold below which heterosexual transmission was unlikely

• 2016 – HIV Prevention Trials Network Study 052 – Final Data (New England Journal of Medicine)

  • Final data from the landmark study that established that being undetectable reduced the risk of HIV transmission by at least 93% in serodiscordant, heterosexual couples

• 2016 – PARTNER1 Study (JAMA)

  • First data demonstrating that being undetectable prevented transmission in serodiscordant, same-sex male couples as well as it did for heterosexual couples

• 2018 – Opposites Attract Study (Lancet HIV)

  • A study of same-sex male couples, confirming the findings of PARTNER1

• 2019 – PARTNER2 Study (Lancet)

  • Final data from a same-sex male couple extension of the PARTNER cohort, extending the follow-up time and confirming the results

• 2019 – Editorial on the PARTNER2 Study by Myron Cohen, MD from UNC (Lancet)