What percentage of poz guys on meds are UNDETECTABLE?

[Belfast-Bottom]

Hey guys! Does anyone know what percentage of poz guys on medication are undetectable? I'm assuming for the sake of argument that they take their meds regularly as prescribed.

[bearbandit]

If someone is taking meds as prescribed, they should be undetectable within weeks, though the recommendation for TasP is six months of being undetectable. Be aware also that viral load in semen seems always to be higher than in blood, which is one of the reasons integrase inhibitors are rising in importance: they go where other ARVs daren't. The unspoken fact is that someone with VL (via blood) under 1K (the current PrEP studies take 200 as undetectable, while the UK hospitals generally reckon on 50 as undetectable - moving goalposts!) is on the borders of being infectious...

[Poz1956]

Before starting treatment blood samples are usually tested for drug resistance, to aid in the selection of antiretrovirals best suited to that individual. In theory, everyone who starts treatment with that process, should be able to achieve an undetectable viral load, and most people do. The vast majority of people who don't, have problems with adherence to to the daily dosing schedule. That's the same situation we have with guys on PrEP.

The Partner study showed Poz gay men had better adherence to their meds than both straight men and women.

A Washington DC study presented at CROI 2014 showed that overall 93% of people achieved an undetectable viral load. It also showed that gay men were more likely to reach undetectable than other risk groups. A British study said that 95% of Poz guys on treatment were noninfectious (It did not specifically use the term undetectable - It also said that 62% of the people who could transmit the virus, didn't know they were Poz.) If we look at a drug trial comparing standard first line treatments to new drug combinations, 87% of people on the more common combination were undetectable by the end of the study. With people who started treatment with lower viral loads, it was 89%. Older documents tend to peg it at 85% become undetectable.

Edited July 31, 2014 by Poz1956