Condoms And Medication Go Hand In Hand To Prevent AIDS

Drugs and protection are essentially symbiotic in combating AIDS. Researchers in Australia have warned that the HIVdefine infection can increase by four folds over the next decade if HIV positivedefine people on antiretroviral drugs stop using condoms due to complacency.

The warning is in response to the controversial statement issued by the Swiss Federal Commission stating that HIVdefine positivedefine people on an effective treatment were sexually non-infectious.

The Australian research published in The Lancet stated that risk of transmission from patients on effective therapy may be low, but unlikely to be zero.

The Lancet quoted, "Factors such as incomplete adherence to therapy or the presence of other sexually transmitted infections could increase the risk of HIV transmission."

A number of countries have seen a rise in HIV infections especially among homosexuals. Despite the high treatment rates, the reduction in the use of condoms is causing the epidemic to grow.

Researchers found that a false sense of security caused by statements such as issued by the Swiss Federal Commission can lead to a reduction in condom use. This fact was recognized in a behavioral study conducted among men who have sex with men in Australia.

The National Center in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research in Sydney conducted calculations using mathematical models. They based their calculations on 10,000 couples. One of the partner being HIV positive, accounting for a 100 unprotected sexual encounters a year, over a period of 10 years.

Their research showed that while the risk of HIV transmission by people on treatment was fairly small for each sexual contact, that risk would be substantial over large numbers of sexual contacts.

The study quoted, "The expected number of HIV infections would be 215 for female-to-male transmissions, 425 for male-to-female transmission, and 3,524 for male-to-male transmission, corresponding to an increase in incidence of four times compared with incidence under current rates of condom use."

Jonathan Anderson, president of the Australasian Society for HIV Medicine, explained that when the viral load goes down into the blood due to antiretroviral, it may not reach all the way to the semen, vaginal or anal fluids. Antiretroviral aid the use of condoms but substituting condom use with medication may be disastrous.

Anderson who did not participate in the study stated that the Swiss advice was misleading.