AIDS 2008 clarification

At a meeting in Mexico City in August 2008, Pietro Vernazza clarified some aspects of the statement. “We never thought of it as a statement that was to be delivered worldwide,” he said, but rather “it was meant only to be delivered to Swiss physicians to help them discuss sexual risk-taking with their patients and their steady partners.”

Another problem, noted Professor Vernazza, was that the title of the statement – Les personnes séropositives ne souffrant d’aucune autre MST et suivant un traitment antirétroviral efficace ne transmettent pas le VIH par voie sexuelle (HIV-positive people with no other STIs and on effective antiretroviral therapy do not transmit HIV sexually) – “was misleading and I apologise for that. We wouldn’t do that again.”

He added, however that the statement had noted that even condom use was not 100% ‘safe’, but that the risk was “in a comfortable range that people can live a normal life. We would place sex under antiretroviral therapy in a similarly safe range, but we only consider this 'safe' under special conditions,” he said. The conditions include fully suppressive treatment for at least six months, with excellent adherence, regular viral load monitoring, and the certainty that the HIV-positive person and their regular HIV-negative partner have no other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

“We also made it clear that the only person who can assess perfect adherence and regular check-ups would be a steady partner, and that it should only be the informed [HIV-negative] partner who could assess the risks for themselves.”

The statement, he said, was “good news for a small number of people, but [for everyone else] prevention messages remain unchanged”.