HIV doesn’t spread if treated properly

To mark the occasion of World AIDS Day, the community-based HIV and AIDS organization, L’ARCHE, is launching a campaign across Quebec to inform the Quebec public of scientific advances that make it possible to say that today, more than ever before, HIV should not be a barrier to emotional and sexual relations.

Over the last five years, research findings have rekindled the hope of ending the HIV and AIDS epidemic in Western countries. One of these studies, HPTN052, has demonstrated that among most heterosexual couples out of 1,763 serodiscordant couples, in which one partner is Hiv-positive and the other is not, HIV treatment reduced the risk of HIV transmission by 96 per cent.

A similar study, PARTNER, followed 1,228 serodiscordant couples (888 heterosexual and 340 homosexual) over a 4year period: and found that of 58,000 unprotected sexual encounters observed, there were only 11 cases of HIV transmission (less than 2 per cent). In addition, analysis of the type of HIV contracted concluded that these 11 people were infected outside the couple.

"These results only confirm what we have been observing for a long time," says Isabelle Bouchard, Director of ARCHE de l\estrie. "People living with HIV who maintain an undetectable viral load, because of effective HIV treatment, do not transmit the virus."

The current campaign is a message of hope for all Hiv-positive people who constantly live in fear of transmitting the virus to their partner. Realizing that HIV is not transmitted when patients maintain an undetectable viral load for more than six months and take effective HIV treatment consistently and pursue regular medical follow-up, means that HIV, today more than ever, should not be a barrier to emotional and sexual relationships.

From November 25 to December 1, 2018, the bakery Les Vraies Richesses is joining the cause and the ARCHE de l’estrie and is inviting the public to purchase a pastry associated with the cause. In addition, an awareness and screening campaign has been organized from 11 am to 2 pm today, Wednesday November 29 at Le Tremplin 16-30 at 95 Wellington St. South in Sherbrooke.