HIV Sexual Transmission Risks in the Context of Clinical Care: A Prospective Study of Behavioural Correlates of HIV Suppression in a Community Sample, Atlanta, Georgia

Below;  (a) Percent of participants receiving ART, ART adherent and achieving HIV suppression and (b) sexual HIV transmission risks among individuals with suppressed and unsuppressed HIV.

Individuals with unsuppressed HIV demonstrated a constellation of behavioural risks for transmitting HIV to uninfected sex partners that included symptoms of STI and substance use. In addition, 15% of participants with suppressed HIV had recent STI symptoms/diagnoses, indicating significant risks for sexual infectiousness despite their HIV suppression in blood plasma. Overall, 38% of participants were at risk for elevated sexual infectiousness and just as many engaged in unprotected sexual intercourse with non-HIV-infected partners.

Implementation strategies for using HIV treatments as HIV prevention requires enhanced behavioural interventions that extend beyond ART to address substance use and sexual health that will otherwise undermine the potential preventive impact of early ART.

Read more at:   http://ht.ly/QNhsq HT @UConn