HIV is an easily manageable condition. While there is no current cure for HIV, HIV-positive individuals are able to live a full and healthy life.

There have been a few reports of HIV having been cured in HIV-positive patients. However, these are patients who have had a serious form of blood cancer. These patients had their existing immune system removed, and a bone-marrow transplant from someone else who was HIV-negative, providing a new immune system. Interfering with the immune system in this manner is very aggressive, invasive and risky, and depends on a wide range of factors.

The treatment for HIV is called antiretroviral therapy (ART) and involves taking a combination of HIV medicines every day.

ART does not cure HIV, but works by preventing HIV from making copies of itself, which lowers the amount of HIV in your body (known as the viral load). A low viral load allows your immune system to get stronger and produce more CD4 cells. With a stronger immune system, your body can fight off infections and some HIV-related cancers.

Reducing the amount of HIV in your body also lowers the risk of passing HIV to others. The main goal with HIV treatment is to get a patient's viral load to an undetectable level so that it cannot be detected on a blood test.

An undetectable viral load means the level of HIV virus within the body is so low that HIV cannot be transmitted to other people through sex. Therefore, ART not only helps you stay healthy but also protects those you care about and allows you to live a full, and normal, life.

A wide range of treatment options are now available to suit the needs of individual patients.

The aim of successful treatment is to achieve complete suppression of the virus in the blood. This is confirmed by an ‘undetectable’ viral load.

Achieving an ‘undetectable’ Viral Load has a 3-fold benefit:

• improvement in symptoms caused by the HIV virus
• improvement in the immune system
• prevention of onward transmission

Over 95% of people diagnosed with HIV in the UK are on effective treatment and undetectable, and therefore are not infectious (U=U).

Viral load is a measurement of the amount of HIV virus in the blood. This amount can vary from 0 to millions of copies of virus per ml of blood. The higher the viral load, the more infectious the patient is and greater the adverse effect of the HIV virus on the immune system.

Tests commonly used in the UK to measure viral load have a lower limit of detection set at 20 copies/ml. You will be classed as Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U) once your viral load has fallen below the limit of detection.

You should begin taking HIV treatment as soon as possible. Most individuals on HIV treatment are able to achieve an undetectable viral load within 6 months or less.

Common side effects include:

• Headaches
• Nausea or vomitting
• Diarrhoea
• Tiredness
• Rash

Your clinician will able able to select a combination of drugs that is best suited to you in order to reduce the possible side-effects.

HIV drug resistance can occur in patients who do not take their medications regularly. When resistance develops, it allows the virus to become detectable in the blood and weaken the immune system once more.

Clinicians who specialise in HIV treatment stress the importance of sticking to your medication schedule.

To prevent drug resistance from occuring:

1. A HIV Genotype Resistance test is performed before starting treatment to choose the most effective medications for you.

2. Patients should take their HIV medications as prescribed.

3. Patients on HIV therapy should have their HIV viral load tested every 3-6 months. Regular testing helps us catch any issues with your treatment early and take the right steps to prevent problems.

Patients who become resistant to their HIV medication will be switched to a new combination of drugs.

You can access free and confidential HIV treatment in the UK from specialist HIV and sexual health clinics.

Your partner will only need HIV treatment if they also test positive for HIV.

Maintaining an undetectable viral load, provided consistent and proper medication adherence, eliminates the risk of transmitting the HIV virus to your partner.

If your partner desires additional preventive measures against HIV, they may explore PrEP. For a more comprehensive discussion tailored to your specific situation, it is advisable to consult your clinician.

We recommend only having unprotected sex when your HIV treatment is working successfully, as to eliminate the risk of passing the infection to a sexual partner. This will be when the level of the HIV virus is undetectable in your blood. Undetectable = Untrasmittable (U=U).

If you do not maintain your Undetectable status, you will be abe to transmit HIV to your partners.

In the meantime, you should use a condom.