What is the study Partner ?
Partner 1 is the name of the study in which serodifferent couples were monitored - one partner is HIV positive and the other negative - to assess the risk of HIV transmission in the event when an HIV positive person is on ARV therapy.
How many participants did the study Partner have?
The study included 1166 serodiverse couples, 62% male-female and 38% male-male, who were monitored for 1.3 years (median).
What were the criteria for the participants in the study?
Some of the study criteria were: sex without using condoms and PrEP, performing regular laboratory tests, using ARV therapy by the HIV-positive partner, while maintaining viral suppression at <200 copies/mL of plasma.
What are the results of the study?
At the end of the study, 900 couples who met the prescribed criteria were analyzed. Over 58,000 unprotected sexual relations were reported. There was no HIV infection of any of the negative partners that could be linked to the HIV positive partner through phylogenetic testing.
The calculated estimate of the transmission rate over 100 years is 0.00 (0.00 – 0.30) with a 95% confidence interval.
Why is this study important?
The partner study is the first to have sex without condoms in serodifferent couples as a criterion. The results of the study indicated that there is no transmission of HIV infection when HIV-positive individuals have viral suppression <200mL of plasma. Due to the smaller percentage of male-male couples, a continuation of the study followed: Partner2.