Question
My partners viral load is undetectable, will I contract HIV?
17 September 2017. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load, HIV transmission.
My girlfriend and I have been in love for more than two years now, and we’ve been making love for two years now. We are in a discordant relationship (she is positive and I am negative), she has been on medication for about two years. I got tested three times over this time and the results come out negative.
I read an article about undetectable viral load that said that of 58,000 discordent couples, and only 11 of them were found positive, on that 11, 10 of them were homosexual and 1 was heterosexual. The heterosexual one got infected by another partner.
Could this be why I am not positive because my partner is undetectable? And on what extent can I know that reaching undetectable viral load stage is the way to stop spreading HIV? I just want to make sure that my partner won’t pass it to me in the future cause I’ve been tested for several times….none is yet to happen. Please help.
Answer
Thanks for getting in touch.
When someone has an undetectable viral load they cannot transmit HIV even when not using a condom.
The study you are referring to is called the Partner Study. Actually, it included about 900 seri-different couples and they had sex more than 58,000 times over a few years.
Also, there were no transmissions when the positive partner had an undetectable viral load.
The people who did become positive, all caught HIV from partners outside their main relationship.
For more info, please see this Q&A for more information:
https://i-base.info/htb/32308
Hi Sumit, you did not cause this person to become HIV positive. Transmission doesn’t happen with an undetectable viral load. Sometimes men abuse their previous partner by trying to blame them for later becoming HIV positive. This has been documented many times.
Please stay strong and resist this bullying.
Science and evidence is on your side. There has never been a reported case of HIV transmission when viral load is undetectable. You should challenge him to find this evidence and call him out for lying.
https://i-base.info/u-equals-u/
Hello! iI am hiv undetectable and the man i was dating was negative. i was very scared of getting intimate with him, we were in long distance relationship since july 2022. When we had sex i forced him to go for the test and it was negative and then my cd4 is 920 since then till now i am perfectly fine. Now after our breakup last month he got tested again and now he is blaing me that i gave him HIV. how is this even possible i am so confused please do help me. My mind is full of questions and i want soomene to clear my head. He has been torturing me that i ruined his life. This was the main reasong that’s why i didn’t want to date any man and now i am stuck guide me. Is this even medically possinble even after being undetactale i can infect any other person ? Do i really have to live my life alone because i am a threat to others?
Hi, I am sorry to hear that you have tested HIV positive. Given that your parter is undetectable and you were on PrEP have you had a second test to confirm?
While your partner is undetectable, do they take their medication everyday? and when did you last test before your most recent one?
My partner and I have been together for over 4 years now. He is HIV positive with an undetectable viral load and I was negative until my test results came back last week. I am very confused and lost as to how I could’ve contracted the virus with him being undetectable and having been so for over 8 years and I was taking Descovy for PrEP. I have not been with anyone other than him sexually. How did the combination of me being on PrEP and him being undetectable fail?
Hi Moses,
If you’ve been having unprotected sex with your wife since she was diagnosed and before her viral load has become undetectable then there’s a risk that you may also be positive. Therefore, its important that you test again.
For info about what to expect during pregnancy and what you’ll need to do once the baby is born please see here:
http://i-base.info/htb/32308
I has had sex for nearly four six month with my wedded wife and later on our first antenatal she tested positive and I tested negative. She was immediately started on the treatment and from then now it’s about 2 months having unprotected sex, should I think am infected ? What should I do and what should we do for our unborn baby? Kindly advise me. Thank you
Hi Tshepo,
Please see Q 5 here:
https://i-base.info/qa/what-are-the-most-asked-questions
And the following link:
http://i-base.info/htb/32308
I an HIV positive and when I discoverd my status my pregnant girl friend tested negative, my CD4 Was 900 and the viral load was 28000 the I started taking ARV after 6 months my viral load was undetected and my girlfriend and the baby are HIV nagative how posible li that. Or was it the mistake