Talk Treatment

Talk to your partners and friends about how being on HIV treatment and having an undetectable viral load is also HIV prevention.

If you are living with HIV, having an undetectable viral load level means that the amount of HIV in your blood is so low it can’t be measured. It is the goal of HIV treatment and is important for your health. But it also makes it very unlikely to pass HIV to a partner.

Today, an estimated 1.2 million people are living with HIV in the United States. Thanks to better treatments, people with HIV are now living longer—and with a better quality of life—than ever before. If you are living with HIV, it's important to make choices that keep you healthy and protect others.

Start medical care and begin HIV treatment as soon as you are diagnosed with HIV. Taking medicine to treat HIV, called antiretroviral therapy or ART, is recommended for all people with HIV. Taking medicine to treat HIV slows the progression of HIV and helps protect your immune system. The medicines can keep you healthy for many years and greatly reduces your chance of transmitting HIV to sex partners if taken the right way, every day.

If you’re taking medicine to treat HIV, visit your health care provider regularly and always take your medicine as directed to keep your viral load (the amount of HIV in the blood and elsewhere in the body) as low as possible.

Starting and staying on treatment will help you to be undetectable. Start talking about the options that work for you.