Question

Could my husband have been positive for many years?

3 September 2012. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load, Newly diagnosed, Support.

I have been married to my husband for five years and he just tested HIV positive and I am negative so far,

He was very sick with PCP pneumonia and was hospitalised for 3 weeks which is how we found out. He is now at home on oxygen. His counts are in the low 200s and he started meds and is feeling better.

Is it possible for him to have had it all this time and not know as he says he never stepped outside our marriage?

I love him regardless and its brought us closer but I am scared and hurt right now.

Answer

Answer: Simon Collins

Hi

There is no way to know just from CD4 results when someone became infected. This is because the individual range of responses varies from very different extremes.

About 25% of people may see their CD4 count drop to 200 within two years, while another 25% still have a CD4 count above 350 after 10 years without treatment. The rest are in between, with an a average of 5-8 years before the CD4 count drops to 200.

Your husband could be in any of these cases, but this certainly includes the possibility that he had HIV without realising it long before you were married. We often get similar questions, and often from partners who have also been lucky in not having tested positive themselves.

This is going to be a difficult time as you reestablish trust and learn how this will affect your lives. The negative result you recently had means that you are very likely to have been lucky and not caught HIV. A confirmatory test will be needed to rule out the chance you may have caught HIV in the three months just prior to the first test.

Medically, your husband is lucky to have found out while his CD4 count was still high. This means his response to treatment and long-term outlook should both be very good.

Good luck in working through everything. Most clinics offer counselling to partners and this can be a good space to work through some of your worries and concerns, and might make it easier to resolve and get through problems in the next few months and years.