U = U!

By Quincy Greene

3 min read

U = U is good news for everyone!

Undetectable = Untransmittable! Simply stated, if your HIV viral load is undetectable (> 6 months and <20 copies/ml), you are untransmittable to your partner(s)!¹ This is amazing news for everyone, since we are ALL connected.

In 2017, at the US Conference on AIDS, Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, "confirmed” that the science validates U=U (undetectable = untransmittable).²

Featured Forum

View all responses

Let's talk about U=U

I remember when this data was NOT known to the general public, patients, providers, and researchers! HIV positive and HIV negative individuals harbored fears and stigma around contracting or transmitting HIV to their partners.

Separating myths from facts

Many people feared the risks of unprotected sexual contact, needle sharing, breastfeeding, and childbirth which carry real HIV transmission risks.

Many people also spread myths about HIV risk and transmission, like getting HIV from mosquitos, sharing a toilet seat or kissing. Today, those fears and myths are no longer relevant!

Featured Forum

View all responses

U=U lowers HIV transmission risk

Condoms, PrEP, and U = U are all tools in today’s HIV prevention tool kit! We MUST continue to reduce our own individual and community level HIV risks in order for U = U to work!

Condoms are great for safer sex, HIV and STI risk reduction and prevention. PrEP and ART are highly effective and easily accessible through your doctor or pharmacy! Combined, these risk reduction tools drastically reduce our HIV risk and improves health outcomes for everyone.

HIV risk reduction methods are working

We are already seeing the impact of PrEP, U = U, increased HIV testing, HIV care, needle exchange and reduced perinatal infections in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia is making progress in the prevention of HIV, which is consistent with national trends. Philadelphia saw a 14.3% decline in new diagnoses between 2017 and 2018, according to the city's public health department.

Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said, "We still have much work to do, particularly in preventing the spread of HIV among people who inject drugs, but ending the epidemic is now a realistic goal.”³

HIV & sexual health

If you are HIV positive

Please take care of your health! Attain and maintain U = U status, then you and your partners are safe and protected. Staying healthy is key since U = U is an active decision!

If you are HIV negative

Please take care of your health! Maintain your HIV negative status by getting tested regularly for HIV and STIs, having sex with condoms, get on PrEP, and know your partner’s status before having sex!² Real talk! Staying healthy is key, remaining HIV negative is an active decision!

Serodiscordant (+/-) and seroconcordant (+/+) couples

For couples that are serodiscordant, where one partner is positive and one is negative, this confirms and affirms their love and commitment to protecting themselves and their partner!

For seroconcordant positive couples, with the same HIV status, this also adds safety to their love and sex in a committed relationship.

Staying safe and healthy

Overall, U = U is some of the best news for our communities and sexual health. U = U will help to reduce community HIV viral loads and encourage healthy safer sexual and romantic relationships. Staying safe and healthy is key!

Are you in a mixed status relationship? What advice would you like your peers to know? Share your expertise in the forums!

Editor's note: Antiretroviral therapy helps in reducing an individual's viral load. The number of copies in the blood is so low, that a person is said to have an undetectable viral load. An undetectable viral load is usually under 40 copies/ml, but this depends on the test and region of the world.⁴

This article represents the opinions, thoughts, and experiences of the author; none of this content has been paid for by any advertiser. The H-I-V.net team does not recommend or endorse any products or treatments discussed herein. Learn more about how we maintain editorial integrity here.

Join the conversation

Please read our rules before commenting.

michael Member
WHY was the U=U message was withheld from survivors for more than 2 decades? I've been undetectable for 23 years, but NOBODY told me I was NOT contagious! I wasted those prime years "isolating" alone at home for no reason. Like the Reagan years, it is part of a gov't cover-up! In my 40s, I could have found a mate (maybe married). But now in my late 60s, U=U is too little, too late. It has no value to us long-term survivors now.
1. JD Lee Moderator
 I'm sorry for your frustration, <inline-mention user-id="2046505" username="michael"/> . I'm not sure what comments your are referring to as being deleted unfortunately. Like you, I wish we had known U=U a long time ago. The research supporting it didn't start coming in until 2016 and it wasn't until 2017 that the CDC got on board. This is after 20 years of studies! With a medical background as you refer to I'm sure you're aware of that, but it doesn't lessen the frustration over lost time. Thank you for being forthright about it.
2. michael Member
 <inline-mention user-id="2046820" username="JD Lee"/> _ I don't concur with your theory that studies for U=U were going on for 20 years. Clinical trials for vital HIV research usually last 1-3 years at most. Should we assume that studies for Covid-19 won't produce a result for another 20 years? If so, the world economy will be a smoldering ash heap. The real problem is that U=U research was deliberately delayed for 20 years because of prejudice against the people affected. It should have begun shortly after 1996 when the first successful HIV "cocktail" was found to stop viral replication. The next logical step would be to see if the patient is still contagious! But that research was not started until 2016; twenty years too late for most of us "long-term survivors" (those infected before 1996 who managed to stay alive for a decade or more without any medication).
Davina Conner Contributor
What a well written article, Quincy and I feel with U=U and PrEP both will help slow the transmission of HIV.. Thank You
Khafre Kujichagulia Abif Moderator
Alafia (Peace) <inline-mention username="Quincy Greene" user-id="2047753"/>, Thank you for breaking down the facts of U=U. Great job! Khafre (Team Member)