Undetectable viral load

An undetectable viral load means there is so little HIV in your blood that a blood test for the virus cannot pick it up. You can only become undetectable if you take your HIV medication every day.

There are two big advantages of having an undetectable viral load

• It is good for your health. With almost zero virus in your body, you stay healthy.

• With almost zero virus in your blood, you cannot infect others through sex. People use the phrase U=U to describe that if you are undetectable, you are not infectious. In other words, Undetectable = Uninfectious.

How do we know this?

Important studies have followed thousands of couples over many years where one partner was HIV negative and the other partner HIV positive. All of the HIV positive partners were taking HIV medication and had an undetectable viral load.

The couples did not use condoms when having sex. The results showed that when the HIV positive partner was undetectable, there were zero cases of HIV transmission.

Remember, even if you are undetectable, it is still important to use condoms when you have sex. Condoms protect you from other sexual transmitted infections and from pregnancies you haven’t planned.

Take a look at our U=U Factsheet (printable PDF).