CDC amends guidelines to support U=U message

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has put its support behind the widely-accepted message that a person living with HIV who has an undetectable viral load cannot sexual transmit the virus. They updated and amended their manual on the 23rd July.

Following the update the face that “undetectable equals untransmittable” (U=U) is now officially included in the ‘Sexually Transmitted Infections Treatment Guidelines, 2021’.

Public health experts have said that the CDC’s willingness to include U=U in their new guidelines are partly related to newer, and more effective, HIV antiretrovirals being available. 

The change comes five years after the U=U campaign was launched by the Prevention Access Campaign, using peer reviewed data from studies such as PARTNER, PARTNER 2 and Opposites Attract.