When your viral load is zero what happens is that your levels of HIV in your body are so low that the HIV virus cannot be passed on to another person.
It can take up to 6 months to become undetectable once you start your HIV treatment.
An undetectable person can in some cases test negative but in most cases you will still test positive for HIV even when you're undetectable as there will still be some HIV hidden in parts of your body.
You do not need PrEP if your partner is undetectable as there is no risk of infection once your partner is no longer detectable.
The length of time it takes to get an undetectable viral load is 6 months or less and as long as you continue to take your HIV medications as directed you should have an undetectable viral load within 6 months at least.
The HIV medication you take helps to keep the HIV from making copies of itself.
There is effectively no risk of sexual transmission of HIV when the person living with HIV has achieved an undetectable viral load.
People with HIV who take antiretroviral medications as prescribed and who achieve and then maintain an undetectable viral load have effectively no risk of sexually transmitting the virus to people without HIV.
When your viral load is undetectable it is called viral suppression which is defined as having less than 200 copies of HIV per milliliter of blood.
HIV medicine can even make the viral load so low that a test can't detect it.
This is called an undetectable viral load.
And because an undetectable viral load means that the level of HIV in their body is too low to be measured by a blood test and will not be transmitted through sex.
In this case, you do not need PrEP.
People living with HIV can lead long and healthy lives by taking medicines that keep the virus undetectable.
People who maintain an undetectable viral load for at least six months cannot transmit HIV though sex.
This is known as “undetectable equals untransmittable,” or “U=U.”
Taking antiretroviral therapy as prescribed to suppress the amount of HIV in the blood to levels that are undetectable with standard tests.
A person is considered to have a “durably undetectable” HIV viral load if their viral load remains undetectable for at least six months after their first undetectable test result.
In most states with an HIV-specific criminal law, your viral load is not a factor in whether you must disclose your HIV-positive status; a few states, however, do take condom use into account.
If you take your medicine every day and your viral load is "undetectable," you have so little HIV in your body that you can't pass it to your partner.