OMG! CDC Says #UequalsU.

After a long list of other national and international orgs and experts say it first and tons of waiting in the U.S., the CDC finally says undetectable equals untransmittable.

Oh yes, they did! Finally. The Center for Disease Control, after moving at the same slow pace that Michael Weinstein moves in support of PrEP (oh, too soon?), finally admits and supports the message of undetectable equals untransmittable, or #UequalsU.

It seems simple enough that after the leadership of the NIH’s Dr. Carl Dieffenbach, one of the first, and Dr. Fauci, most recently, were vocally in agreement that if someone is positive, on antiretroviral therapy and the virus is durably suppressed for 6 months (undetectable), that the individual is not going to transmit HIV to a sexual partner even in the absence of other prevention methods like condoms or PrEP. But it was not that simple for the CDC to admit.

U=U HIV Undetectable What It Means

However, the CDC did finally publicly admit the truth and it is the activism from online advocates and in-person meetings with #UequalsU leadership like Bruce Richman and HIV icon Charles King and many others that made this moment happen. It also took tremendous courage (and a lot of pushing from us all) for the leadership at the CDC to speak the truth. [We will support them, should any fallout from the administration occur to these professionals.]

“When [antiretroviral treatment] results in viral suppression, defined as less than 200 copies/ml or undetectable levels, it prevents sexual HIV transmission,” the CDC writes in this letter released yesterday in honor of National Gay/Bisexual Men’s HIV Awareness Day.

It was a simple support of #UequalsU in the middle of a long letter warning of the perils of sex and news about other STI/STD rate increases that are pretty scary, but it is there—clearly stated within that letter. That’s all that matters! 

[tweet_box design=”box_05″ float=”none” inject=”The CDC finally says #UequalsU!!! Okr!!!”]The @CDCgov finally says #UequalsU! [/tweet_box]

I will leave, for another day, the reporting on the inside dilemma for the peeps wanting political favor for #UequalsU, and overcoming their own personal bias built upon years of fear and internal stigma. But it was all present over the last year. Shockingly enough, there are even national HIV organizations whom I will soon name on this blog, that do not have a backbone and the dignity to tell the truth, that allegedly threatened legal action against others and created tremendous difficulty in the #UequalsU message from spreading. But, simply, all of those things are on notice and I will happily expose them soon enough. 

Besides that— have a great celebration all! ?

 

We are relentless. We are resilient. We won’t stop. We never lose hope! The @CDC_HIVAIDS team finally says #UequalsU. @PreventionAC #win #TY pic.twitter.com/8QkCSnBaQA

— Josh Robbins (@imstillJosh) September 28, 2017