HIV – All about HIV treatment

updated 2 years ago in HIV Treatment

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There is currently no cure for HIV. Once you have HIV, it remains in your body. You will need to keep using HIV treatment to control the virus and stay healthy.

Thanks to scientific advances, guys living with HIV can now expect to live full and healthy lives, as long as they continue using HIV treatment.

What is HIV treatment like?

Modern HIV treatments are effective, easy to use and have minimal side effects.

Most guys using HIV treatment will take a few pills or just one pill every day.

New HIV treatments in the form of long acting injectables and implants are already being developed.

Talk to your doctor about the best treatment options for you.

What does it mean to be undetectable?

Being undetectable or having an undetectable viral load (UVL) means that using HIV treatment has reduced the amount of virus in your body so much that it can no longer be detected in large amounts.

This doesn’t mean you are cured or free of HIV. It means that your HIV treatment is working to control the amount of virus in your body so that it is not harmful to you.

Maintaining UVL in the long term is the goal of most HIV treatment. Staying on treatment as advised by your doctor is the best way to stay undetectable. Staying undetectable over time keeps you healthy and eliminates the possibility of sexually transmitting the virus to other people.

Stated simply: undetectable = untransmittable (U=U).

For more on what being undetectable means for your health, see UVL/Undetectable.