Counseling Patients with Partners Living with HIV

Demetre Daskalakis, MD, MPH is an infectious disease specialist with a focus on LGBTQAI communities. He is the Acting Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, deployed from his position as the Director of the Division of HIV Prevention in the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention at CDC.

Ask Me Anything About Sexual Health: For Healthcare Providers is a video series that covers HIV and STI testing as part of routine healthcare, HIV stigma, PrEP, U=U and having open conversations with patients about sexual health.

This video is a joint production of KFF’s GREATER THAN HIV and CDC’s LET’S STOP HIV TOGETHER. This information is shared for educational purposes and should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice. The views expressed are those of the featured medical professional and reflect information available to that professional at the time of filming. Always consult a healthcare provider for any personal health decisions.

The marks “CDC” and “Let’s Stop HIV Together” are owned by the US Dept. of Health and Human Services and are used with permission. Use of these logos is not an endorsement by HHS or CDC of any particular product, service, or enterprise.

TRANSCRIPT:

If somebody has a partner living with HIV, it's a great opportunity to talk about all of the various components that we have for HIV prevention.

So first of all, undetectable is equal to untransmittable. U=U isn’t just for the HIV positive partner. It's also for the HIV negative partner.

But don't stop there. You also wanna talk to that person about pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP. Some people are gonna take you up for PrEP even if their partner is undetectable because it will empower them to feel more confident in their sex life.