Music Journalist Barry Walters Looks Back At Manhattan's Legendary Saint Disco

Veteran music journalist Barry Walters has penned a fascinating look back at Manhattan's much-storied Saint nightclub. It begins:

From September 1980 to May 1988, The Saint defined gay nightlife in New York during its most tumultuous and literally plagued decade. Conceived by off-Broadway impresario Mailman, who had just scored a runaway success with The New St. Marks Baths, The Saint set such high standards that it soon rendered its competition redundant.

“When it opened, it just sucked the life out of all the other clubs,” says Robbie Leslie, the most popular of the disco’s surviving DJs. “Everyone abandoned these clubs they professed loyalty to. It only took a week or two, and they just flocked over to The Saint.”

Housed in the three-story former site of the psychedelic rock concert hall Fillmore East, The Saint offered multi-sensory pleasure like no other venue before or since. It featured a circular, 4,800 square foot dancefloor topped by an aluminum dome 76 ft. by 38 ft. under which much of the club’s 1,500 lights would shine, as well as constellations from a Spitz Space System projector ten times brighter than one in a typical planetarium. Designed by architect Charles Terrell, The Saint pointedly directed one’s attention skyward. Its experience was clearly meant to be uplifting – visually and otherwise.

The perforated dome hid the last and largest of the revered Graebar sound systems: Powered by 630 drivers and 32 amplifiers, nearly 500 speakers generated 26,000 watts – a figure touted in The Saint’s publicity materials as being “probably the most powerful per square foot for entertainment purposes in existence.” All this splendor ultimately cost $4.6 million in 1980 dollars – well over $13 million in today’s currency.

You don't have to be an eldergay to enjoy the full piece.

AUDIO: There are many recordings of Saint DJ sets floating around. In the above-linked piece Walters includes this set from closing night DJ Jim Burgess.

STUDY: HIV Transmission Is Virtually Zero For Patients "Reliably" Taking Their Meds

Via the Charlotte News & Observer:

Groundbreaking research conducted at UNC-Chapel Hill has demonstrated that potent drug cocktails can disable HIV to the point that the deadly virus can’t be transmitted to other people through sexual activity. The findings were announced Monday by AIDS researcher Myron Cohen at the eigth International AIDS Society Conference in Vancouver, Canada. Cohen, UNC’s chief of the Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases, has headed the global research project for a decade and studied more than 1,700 couples.

The landmark study, financed with more than $100 million in federal research grants, confirmed initial results reported in 2011 and demonstrated that AIDS medications known as antiretroviral therapy, or ART, can suppress the virus for years. The virus can reemerge if the patient stops taking the medicine, but as long as it’s suppressed, the virus essentially is harmless and most patients can lead normal, healthy lives. “If people are taking their pills reliably and they’re taking them for some period of time, the probability of transmission in this study is actually zero,” Cohen said by phone from Vancouver. “Let me say it another way: We never saw a case of HIV transmission in a person who is stably suppressed on ART.”

The researchers stressed that they are not advocating unprotected sex for those taking anti-retrovirals.

PrEP: Third FDA Anniversary

Three years ago today the FDA approved Truvada as a daily HIV preventive. Since then PrEP has remained controversial. Powerful naysayers like the AIDS Healthcare Foundation run anti-PrEP ads in a major publications while other HIV/AIDS groups and health departments in major US cities vigorously promote PrEP for at-risk populations. In another PrEP promotion, the hook-up app Scruff is today supporting PrEP Action Day on social media. Meanwhile, the guy in the clip below delivers a raunchy anti-PrEP rant.

UNAIDS Report: Eight Million Lives Saved Globally Since Year 2000

NBC News reports:

The world has made "extraordinary progress" against AIDS, slashing the rate of new infections by more than a third and saving nearly 8 million lives since 2000, a new report finds. Fifteen years of work to make sure more people get drugs that can keep them healthy and keep them from infecting others has had spectacular effects on the pandemic that has killed nearly 40 million people, the United Nations AIDS agency UNAIDS says in its report. Distribution of condoms has averted around 50 million new HIV infections since the HIV pandemic started in the 1980s, and other programs to educate people about how HIV spreads and to encourage safe sex have helped, also. "The world has delivered on halting and reversing the AIDS epidemic," said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

But temper your celebrations because more than a million are still dying every year. (Tipped by JMG reader David)

TRAILER: Larry Kramer In Love & Anger

Kramer tells TIME: "I don’t regret anything I’ve done or said. No matter what you say, some people are going to like it and some people aren’t. So it hasn’t shut me up at all. Inside I’m just as tempestuous."  The documentary debuts on June 29th at 9PM. Set the DVR now.

TRAILER: Desert Migration

About the documentary:

The spotlight shining on the fight against HIV has dimmed in recent years. The virus itself has been downgraded to a ‘chronic condition’. The elderly are, to a certain extent, shuffled into a corner. Aging people with HIV even more so, ignored and forgotten. But they are a reminder not to be complacent. A reminder that HIV is still a big deal. It’s not a case of just taking a few pills and you’ll be fine. These survivors are a reminder of that, but they are also a testament to strength, resilience, and endurance. Using these individuals, "Desert Migration" discusses subjects that relate to us all; HIV positive or negative, young or old. How do we approach our own aging, and the notion of mortality? What gives us the will to create, to achieve, and even to live at all, as our minds and bodies deteriorate? How resilient is the the human spirit?

SPONSORED POST FROM THE CDC Live Well With HIV By Seeking Treatment

An important message from the CDC:  More than 1.2 million Americans are living with HIV. Approximately 168,000 of those people have never been diagnosed. Additionally, more than 50% of those infected with HIV are not being treated.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) knows that the key way to help people living with HIV to achieve longer, healthier lives is by getting people the proper medical care they need in order to lower the levels of HIV in the body. Not only does viral suppression facilitate life spans that are near normal, but it inhibits transmission of HIV to others.

And only 30% of those living with HIV have achieved viral suppression. That number could be raised to 76% by getting people the proper care they need. People tend to avoid seeking care because of poor access, cost of pharmaceuticals, a lack of knowledge about treatments, and stigma attached to HIV, but the CDC's study shows how vitally important it is to get people tested for HIV, and into care as soon as possible once diagnosed.

In fact, a 20-year-old diagnosed with HIV who gets the proper medical treatment adds an average of nearly 40 years to his or her life. Treatment works, and that's the message of the CDC's campaign which is informed by the input of more than 100 people living with HIV.

No matter what your HIV status is, talk can still be the perfect foreplay. Start Talking. Stop HIV., CDC's national campaign created by and for gay and bisexual men, promotes open communication about HIV prevention among sexual partners and encourages men in all types of relationships to talk about: HIV testing, their HIV status, condom use, and medicines that help prevent and treat HIV. For conversation starters, visit the CDC's campaign site and Start Talking in an effort to Stop HIV among gay and bisexual men. Join the conversation on Facebook at Starting Talking, Stop HIV.


To read more about how HIV treatment works, visit the CDC's website to find out how to get in care, stay in care, live well, and find the resources and social services providers that will help you achieve viral suppression and live a longer, healthier life.

THIS WAS A SPONSORED POST FROM THE CDC.

FEDS: Start HIV Treatment Immediately

The federal government has halted a large clinical trial on early HIV treatment because results already in conclusively show that newly diagnosed patients do best if they start on anti-retroviral therapy immediately. Via the New York Times:

The study was stopped more than a year early because preliminary data already showed that those who got treatment immediately were 53 percent less likely to die during the trial or develop AIDS or a serious illness than those who waited. The study is strong evidence that early treatment saves more lives, the officials said. Fewer than 14 million of the estimated 35 million people infected with H.I.V. around the world are on treatment now, according to U.N.AIDS, the United Nations AIDS-fighting agency. In the United States, only about 450,000 of the estimated 1.2 million with H.I.V. are on treatment, according to the Centers for “This is another incentive to seek out testing and start therapy early, because you will benefit,” said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease, which sponsored the trial. “The sooner, the better.”

Many HIV/AIDS advocacy groups have long said that treatment should start immediately. New York City's Department of Health began advising immediate treatment in 2011.

STUDY: PrEP Reaches Max Effectiveness Against HIV After One Week Of Dosing

Poz.com reports:

Daily Truvada as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) against HIV takes five to seven days to reach top estimated effectiveness among men who have sex with men (MSM). High levels of protection are maintained for perhaps a week after the last dose. According to levels of drug detected in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), and comparisons of those results to drug levels estimated in previous research to correspond to varying degrees of protection against HIV, one day on PrEP led to a 75 to 91 risk reduction, three days meant a 95 to 97 percent risk reduction, and five and seven days translated to a 98 to 99 percent risk reduction. The presumed risk reduction stayed higher than 90 percent for seven days after the last dose. Although the study included female participants, it was not meant to estimate how well PrEP dosing protects them or other groups, just MSM. The iPrEx study used as the reference point for Truvada’s effectiveness at various concentrations in PBMCs was only conducted among MSM and trans women.

Hit the link for more about the study.

MISSOURI: Former College Wrestler Found Guilty Of Reckless HIV Transmission

Steven Thrasher reports at Buzzfeed:

Michael Johnson, the HIV positive former college wrestler better known as “Tiger Mandingo,” faces life in prison after being found guilty today of one count of recklessly infecting a partner with HIV, one count of attempting to recklessly infect a partner with HIV, and three counts of recklessly exposing partners to HIV. “They’ve paid their price,” prosecutor Philip Groenweghe said of Johnson’s partners during closing arguments. As for Johnson, he asked the jury: “What price shall he pay?” The story of Johnson’s case, and the way in which it became both a media flashpoint and a morality tale, was the subject of a BuzzFeed News investigation last year. Following a three day trial, the jury reached a decision after just two hours of deliberation. Johnson’s mother, Tracy Johnson, was in attendance as the verdict was read, as was Dylan King Lemons, Johnson’s former partner, who testified that he went to police when he noticed that the HIV-positive Johnson was on gay hookup apps.

Health workers testified that they informed Johnson of his HIV status and warned him that failure to disclose is a felony in Missouri. Six of Johnson's partners testified that that he did not disclose to them and those claims were refuted by Johnson. One of Johnson's accusers admitted that he had unprotected sex with him for a second time even after confronting him about his status. Johnson faces a minimum of ten years in prison. He will be sentenced today. Hit the link for much more.

GSK & UNC-Chapel Hill Form Company Devoted To Finding Cure For HIV/AIDS

Via the New York Times:

Years ago, curing AIDS was considered so out of the question that some scientists dared not even mention the possibility. But in the latest sign that attitudes are changing, the British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline is teaming up with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to start a research institute and a company aimed at curing H.I.V. infection and AIDS. In an agreement set to be announced on Monday, GlaxoSmithKline will contribute $4 million annually over five years to the research center, set up on the North Carolina campus. It will also move a small number of its own scientists to Chapel Hill. The company and the university will each own half of the new company, Qura Therapeutics, which will have the rights to commercialize any discoveries. The effort will be separate from ViiV Healthcare, the company owned by Glaxo, Pfizer and Shionogi that develops and sells drugs that control, but do not cure, H.I.V.

More from Buzzfeed:

The first approved drug for HIV, azidothymidine or AZT, was patented in 1985 by Burroughs Wellcome, which was subsequently acquired by GSK. At UNC-Chapel Hill, molecular biologist David Margolis and his colleagues have made headlines for their strategy to root out HIV from its many hiding spots (known as “latent reservoirs”) in the body — even in patients already treated with antiretroviral therapy. With that line of research, “what was once provocative and unthinkable became mainstream: let’s try and cure AIDS,” Myron Cohen, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at UNC-Chapel Hill, told BuzzFeed News. That scientific strategy, informally known as “shock and kill,” will be at the center of the GSK-UNC collaboration. The leaders of the new effort recognize that their initial investment is fairly small, on the scale of what it takes to develop a new drug. They hope to be a catalyst for more funding — from the government and, perhaps, from other companies — later on.

And from the Wall Street Journal:

AIDS researchers have known for two decades that HIV goes dormant, hiding in so-called latent reservoirs in immune-system cells where it can’t be affected by antiretroviral drugs. UNC has led one potential strategy for a cure in which a drug is used to flush the virus from its dormant state, making it a target for drug therapy. Dr. David Margolis said that strategy is “extremely promising,” but that the cure center will explore others. “We have to have a broad approach,” he said. UNC Chancellor Carol Folt said the hope is that the partnership will expand, inviting in additional collaborators. “I see this as us really putting our muscle behind a pressing issue,” she said, calling an HIV cure “an extraordinary scientific challenge.” In 2013, about 35 million people world-wide were infected with HIV, and 1.5 million people world-wide died of AIDS-related causes, according to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS.

Posted today to GSK's YouTube channel.

Researchers Claim Success With Implant Which Delivers HIV Meds For 40 Days

Via Science Daily:

Scientists from the Oak Crest Institute of Science, in Pasadena, CA, report that they have developed a matchstick size implant, similar to a contraceptive implant, that successfully delivers a controlled, sustained release of ARV drugs for up to 40 days in dogs with no adverse side effects. "To our knowledge this is the first implant to be used for this purpose," says Dr. Marc Baum, president and founder of Oak Crest.  Daily administration of oral or topical ARV drugs to HIV negative individuals in vulnerable populations is a promising strategy for HIV prevention. However, adherence to the dosing regimen has emerged as a critical factor in determining effective outcomes in clinical trials. "This novel device will revolutionize how we treat or prevent HIV/AIDS as it delivers powerful HIV-stopping drugs and eliminates one of the key obstacles in HIV/AIDS prevention -- adherence to proper dosing regimens," he adds.

The team plans to develop a new version of the implant that would deliver the medications for a full year.

Elton John To Congress: HIV Stigma Is Still The Greatest Threat To Stopping AIDS

Elton John testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee today to argue against so-called sequester caps on federal spending for HIV/AIDS. Via the Washington Times:

Music legend and advocate Elton John said the stigma of persons infected by HIV/AIDS, particularly in the LGBT community, is the greatest threat to fighting — and one day stopping — the disease. Sir John told a Senate Appropriations panel that some African societies marginalize or penalize gay members of their communities, hampering efforts to keep those with HIV/AIDS from gaining much-needed drugs. “They go underground, and the disease is spread even further,” he told the foreign operations subcommittee chaired by Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican. He struck a religious stance, too, saying Jesus “would be appalled at the way people are being stigmatized” and credited Pope Francis with preaching compassion. Sir John appeared before Congress to testify in support of a global-health fund that fights poverty and diseases like AIDS and malaria abroad.

The moment seen above with fellow testifier Pastor Rick Warren came as cameras flashed while the pair took their seats. Warren then joked that if he and Elton were to kiss at that moment, "It would be the kiss heard 'round the world." Elton's opening statement is below. In the second clip, Warren digresses from HIV/AIDS funding to lecture the committee on religious liberty.

Former Staffers Accuse AIDS Healthcare Foundation Of Massive Kickback Scheme

According to a press release published by lawyers representing former AIDS Healthcare Foundation staffers, the combative organization has engaged in a massive patient referral kickback scheme that has defrauded the federal government to the tune of $20M a year. The press release begins:

Three former managers of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Inc. (AHF) have filed Federal and Florida State Whistleblower Act claims against the nation's largest supplier of HIV/AIDS medical care for illegal patient referral kickbacks. AHF is charged with defrauding Federal healthcare programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Health and Human Services HIV/AIDS grant programs of at least $20 million a year in false claims since 2010. Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC represents the plaintiffs.

Filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on April 3 under the Federal False Claims Act and Florida False Claims Act, the complaint is based on the personal knowledge and documentation of Whistleblowers Jack Carrel of Louisiana, Mauricio Ferrer of Florida, and Shawn Loftis of New York. All held management positions at AHF prior to their jobs being terminated– despite having federal protection under the False Claims Act – after they notified their supervisors about the company's unlawful practices.

According to the complaint, AHF conducted an organization-wide criminal effort across at least 12 states, including Florida, that boosted funding from federal healthcare programs by generating HIV/AIDS referrals to the company's various service centers. AHF did this by unlawfully paying referral incentives to employees and patients in violation of the anti-kickback statute.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation operates a chain of HIV/AIDS specialty pharmacies and thrift shops. They are perhaps best known for their aggressive advertising campaign against the use of Truvada as a daily HIV preventive and for their campaign to force the use of condoms in porn productions. Hit the link, there's much more in the press release. (Via Towleroad)

UPDATE: AIDS Healthcare Foundation head Michael Weinstein responds via email.

“With more than sixty percent of the 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States currently not in regular medical care and treatment, it remains core to AHF’s mission to try and reduce that number. Not only has AIDS Healthcare Foundation done nothing wrong, our pro-active approach to finding and linking HIV-positive individuals to lifesaving care and treatment is critical to stopping HIV in this country. The fact that the Federal Government and the State of Florida have each already formally declined to intervene in the legal action brought on behalf of three former AHF employees speaks volumes about the merits of this case. Small incentives for linking and retaining people in care are mainstays of public health interventions—including by many CDC projects. We look forward to the opportunity to rebut these baseless charges in court.”

HomoQuotable - Larry Kramer

"Genocide is the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or ethnic group. Such as gay people. Such as people of color. To date, around the world, an estimated 78 million people have become infected, 39 million of whom have died. When we first became acquainted with HIV there were 41 cases. The main difference between the Larry Kramer who helped to start Gay Men’s Health Crisis in his living room in 1982 and ACT UP in 1987 and the Larry Kramer who stands before you now is that I no longer have any doubt that our government is content, via sins of omission or commission, to allow the extermination of my homosexual population to continue unabated.

"It is talk like this that got the original GMHC board to boot me off and out. It is also talk like this that enabled ACT UP to succeed in getting us our own treatments. These treatments are not good enough but have been good enough to extend our lives. Unfortunately they still come with side effects and they reward their greedy manufacturers with more money than they would make locating the cure that would end this plague." - Larry Kramer, accepting the first-ever Larry Kramer Activism Award from Gay Men's Health Crisis. Hit the link for the full text of the speech.

A Live Look At Simian HIV

Via Science Magazine:

Show me the monkey. Seeing is believing, and a study in rhesus macaques with a new imaging technique reveals for the first time a real-time map of an AIDS virus replicating in the entire body of a living animal. The results point to some unexpected hideouts of the simian AIDS virus, or SIV. And the experiments also show that when the monkeys are given antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, the amount of virus that persists differs by location in the body. The innovative tool promises to clarify the still-murky details of the initial infection process and may help guide drug, vaccine, and cure research in people. “It’s fantastic,” says Thomas Hope, an immunologist at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois, who investigates how HIV, the human counterpart to SIV, infects cells. “The whole monkey shows you things you can’t comprehend by just looking at cells or biopsies of tissues.”

Fascinating details are at the link.

David Barton: The Bible Says There Will Never Be A Vaccine For HIV Because God Sent AIDS To Kill Homosexuals

KANSAS: Military Court Reverses HIV Assault Conviction For Swinger Airman

Via the Associated Press:

The highest U.S. military court's reversal of a Kansas airman's aggravated assault conviction for exposing multiple sex partners to HIV at swinger parties in Wichita will effectively end such prosecutions in the armed forces, his attorney said. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces unanimously ruled Monday that prosecutors failed to prove that any of David Gutierrez's acts were likely to transmit HIV to his partners. That decision overturns a 25-year precedent that had allowed military personnel to be convicted of aggravated assault solely on the basis of a positive HIV test, attorney Kevin McDermott said Tuesday. Gutierrez was not accused of infecting anyone with HIV.

Gutierrez could still be issued a bad conduct discharge, rather than the more severe dishonorable discharge that he had previously faced. In his appeal, Gutierrez challenged whether the risk to his sexual partners was high enough to constitute aggravated assault. Defense lawyers argued the risk of infection by an HIV-positive man during sexual intercourse with a woman ranged from a 1-in-10,000 to 1-in-100,000 chance per sexual encounter, which they contend is so low that it doesn't meet the legal standard for assault. Prosecutors countered that the exposure risk was closer to 1 in 500. The court concluded that even if the risk were 1 in 500, transmission of the disease was not "likely" to occur.

The airman has been imprisoned at Fort Leavenworth for almost five years and should be released shortly.

New PrEP Study Shows 86% Effectiveness For Before/After Sex Dosing Schedule

Via the Associated Press:

For the first time, a study shows that a drug used to treat HIV infection also can help prevent it when taken before and after risky sex by gay men. The results offer hope of a more appealing way to help prevent the disease beyond taking daily pills and using condoms, although those methods are still considered best. The study, done in France and Canada, is the first to test "on demand" use of Truvada, a pill combining two AIDS drugs, by people planning to have risky sex. The uninfected men who took it were 86 percent less likely to get HIV compared to men given dummy pills.

"That impressed me," Dr. Scott Hammer said of the size of the benefit. He is an AIDS specialist at Columbia University in New York and heads the Retrovirus Conference going on in Seattle, where the results were discussed Tuesday. Daily Truvada pills are used now to prevent HIV infection in people at high risk for it, and studies show the drug helps even when some doses are skipped. Health officials have been leery of billing it as a "chemical condom" out of fear that people will not use the best prevention methods, but many won't use condoms all the time or take daily pills.

The study of Gilead Science's Truvada was led by the French national HIV research agency. Men were given fake or real Truvada and told to take two pills from two to 24 hours before sex, a third pill 24 hours later, and a fourth pill 48 hours after the first dose. The men also were given condoms and disease prevention counseling.

An important note of caution from the CDC:

Since available data suggest that men in this study were taking PrEP an average of three to four days per week, CDC cautions that researchers do not yet know if this regimen will work among MSM who have sex less frequently and would therefore be taking PrEP less often.

It is not known whether the regimen will work if taken only a few hours or days before sex, without any buildup of the drug from prior use. Studies suggest that it may take days, depending on the type of sexual exposure, for the active drug in PrEP to build up to an optimal level for preventing HIV infection.

There are also no data on how effective this regimen would be for heterosexual men and women and injection drug users or on adherence to this relatively complex PrEP regimen outside a trial setting. CDC continues to recommend only daily use of PrEP, as approved by the FDA. IPERGAY findings combined with other recent research suggests that even with less than perfect daily adherence, PrEP may still offer substantial protection if taken consistently.

CDC: Over 90% Of New US HIV Infections Come From Those Not Getting Treatment

Via press release from the CDC:

More than 90 percent of new HIV infections in the United States could be averted by diagnosing people living with HIV and ensuring they receive prompt, ongoing care and treatment. This finding was published today in JAMA Internal Medicine by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Using statistical modeling, the authors developed the first U.S. estimates of the number of HIV transmissions from people engaged at five consecutive stages of care (including with those who are unaware of their infection, those who are retained in care and those who have their virus under control through treatment).

The research also shows that the further people progress in HIV care, the less likely they are to transmit their virus. “By quantifying where HIV transmissions occur at each stage of care, we can identify when and for whom prevention and treatment efforts will have the most impact,” said Jonathan Mermin, M.D., director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention. “We could prevent the vast majority of new infections tomorrow by improving the health of people living with HIV today.”

The analysis showed that 30 percent of new HIV infections were transmitted from people who did not know that they were infected with the virus, highlighting the importance of getting tested. People who had been diagnosed were less likely to transmit their infection, in part because people who know they have HIV are more likely to take steps to protect their partners from infection.

“Positive or negative, an HIV test opens the door to prevention. For someone who is positive, it can be the gateway to care and the signal to take steps to protect partners from infection. For someone who tests negative, it can be a direct link to important prevention services to help them stay HIV-free,” said Eugene McCray, MD, director of CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention. “At CDC, we’re working hard to make testing as simple and accessible as possible.”

Today’s analysis suggests that simply being in care can help people living with HIV avoid transmission of their virus. According to the model, people who were engaged in ongoing HIV care, but not prescribed antiretroviral treatment, were half as likely (51.8 percent) as those who were diagnosed but not in care to transmit their virus. Being prescribed HIV treatment further lowered the risk that a person would pass the virus to others.