Earlier this year, the Swiss Federal AIDS Commission released findings that an individual who is HIV-positive was not at risk of passing on the virus if they had an undetectable viral load, no STDs and strictly adhered to their treatment regime. Now, a study published in The Lancet has found that sero-discordant couples abandoning condom use could significantly increase the risks of transmission. Non-use of condoms can increase the risks posed by sudden changes in viral load, which can occur as a result of illness, an undetected STI or non-adherence to treatment. The Lancet study concludes, ‘the risk of HIV transmission in heterosexual partnerships in the presence of effective treatment is low but non-zero and that the transmission risk in male homosexual partnerships is high over repeated exposures. If the claim of non-infectiousness in effectively treated patients was widely accepted, and condom use subsequently declined, then there is the potential for substantial increases in HIV incidence.’ HIV/AIDS groups are widely advocating both strict adherence to treatment and condom use in preventing transmission.