The Swiss statement

The statement said that in the following circumstances people with HIV are not sexually infectious:

  • Antiretroviral therapy is taken consistently.
  • Viral load has been undetectable for at least six months.
  • There are no sexually transmitted infections.

In January 2008, Swiss HIV experts produced a landmark consensus statement to say that HIV-positive individuals on effective antiretroviral therapy who have had an undetectable viral load for at least six months and without sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are sexually non-infectious. The statement discussed the implications for doctors; for HIV-positive people; for HIV prevention; and the legal system.1

The statement, on behalf of the Swiss Federal Commission for HIV/AIDS was authored by four of Switzerland’s foremost HIV experts: Prof Pietro Vernazza, of the Cantonal Hospital in St. Gallen, and President of the Swiss Federal Commission for HIV/AIDS; Prof Bernard Hirschel from Geneva University Hospital; Dr Enos Bernasconi of the Lugano Regional Hospital; and Dr Markus Flepp, President of the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health’s Sub-committee on the clincal and therapeutic aspects of HIV/AIDS.

The headline statement says that “after review of the medical literature and extensive discussion,” the Swiss Federal Commission for HIV/AIDS resolves that, “An HIV-infected person on antiretroviral therapy with completely suppressed viraemia ('effective ART') is not sexually infectious, i.e. cannot transmit HIV through sexual contact.”

References

  1. Vernazza P et al. Les personnes séropositives ne souffrant d’aucune autre MST et suivant un traitment antirétroviral efficace ne transmettent pas le VIH par voie sexuelle. Bulletin des médecins suisses 89 (5), (English translation, including translator’s affidavit, available at: http://tinyurl.com/cpyt5n Date accessed: 6 May 2009), 2008
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