HIV Transmission Rates

Another useful measure of the impact of prevention and treatment efforts among individuals living with HIV is the estimated rate of HIV transmission – which indicates the likelihood that an HIV-infected individual will transmit the virus to others. CDC estimates that that there are only four transmissions per year for every 100 people living with HIV in the United States, which means that the vast majority (at least 95 percent) of people living with HIV do not transmit the virus to anyone else.¹⁴ This represents an 89 percent decline in the transmission rate since the mid-1980s, reflecting the combined impact of testing, prevention counseling, and treatment efforts targeted to those living with HIV infection.¹⁵