Question
Can I have a ‘normal’ relationship with someone who is positive?
4 April 2011. Related: All topics, HIV transmission, Pregnancy, Starting treatment.
I am a HIV negative woman, who has fallen in love with an HIV positive man. He is on medication and has a low viral load (moving back to undetectable). Am I foolish to think that we have a ‘normal’ relationship? Can we have children? Will this man eventually develop AIDS and die within a matter of years?
Answer
Thank you for your question.
Of course you can have a normal relationship with someone who has HIV. There are probably millions of couples globally who are currently in relationships with positive people whilst remaining negative themselves.
If your partner is on treatment and taking it correctly then he should look forward to a near normal life expectancy and a good quality of life. If he is on treatment he won’t develop AIDS.
It is also possible for you to have negative children. For more information please follow this link. You might also find it useful to read the Swiss Statement which states that if someone is stable on HIV treatment then the likelihood of them transmitting the virus to their partner is “negligible” and “similar to risks of daily life”.