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Advances in HIV Prevention for Serodiscordant Couples

  • Behavioral-Bio-Medical Interface (JL Brown and RJ DiClemente, Section Editors)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Serodiscordant couples play an important role in maintaining the global HIV epidemic. This review summarizes biobehavioral and biomedical HIV prevention options for serodiscordant couples focusing on advances in 2013 and 2014, including World Health Organization guidelines and best evidence for couples counseling, couple-based interventions, and the use of antiviral agents for prevention. In the past few years, marked advances have been made in HIV prevention for serodiscordant couples and numerous ongoing studies are continuously expanding HIV prevention tools, especially in the area of pre-exposure prophylaxis. Uptake and adherence to antiviral therapy remains a key challenge. Additional research is needed to develop evidence-based interventions for couples, and especially for male-male couples. Randomized trials have demonstrated the prevention benefits of antiretroviral-based approaches among serodiscordant couples; however, residual transmission observed in recognized serodiscordant couples represents an important and resolvable challenge in HIV prevention.

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Conflict of Interest

Kathryn E. Muessig declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Myron S. Cohen is an advisory board member for Roche Molecular Systems, BMGF HIV EAP, and Janssen Global Services.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Kathryn E. Muessig

  2. UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Kathryn E. Muessig & Myron S. Cohen

  3. Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Myron S. Cohen

  4. Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Myron S. Cohen

  5. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Myron S. Cohen

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  1. Kathryn E. Muessig
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Muessig, K.E., Cohen, M.S. Advances in HIV Prevention for Serodiscordant Couples. Curr HIV/AIDS Rep 11, 434–446 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11904-014-0225-9

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