Question
Can positive people marry and have a family?
13 July 2020. Related: All topics, CD4 and viral load, HIV transmission.
I’m positive, whereas my partner is negative, can we marry and have a family? Will I be negative if I take medication?
Answer
Thanks for getting in touch.
If you want to get married as well as have children, then yes, you can. Your HIV shouldn’t be a barrier to this. HIV is now easy to control and once on effective treatment, and your viral load is undetectable you can’t transmit HIV to a sexual partner. Please see here: https://i-base.info/u-equals-u/ Therefore you can have kids.
As you’re interested in having a child, you may find the following helpful: https://i-base.info/guides/pregnancy
With regards to becoming negative, your HIV is controlled by taking ARVs. If you were to stop taking meds, your viral load would rebound and your HIV would no longer be under control.
Hi Sarah,
Drug resistance usually happens when someone doesn’t adhere to their medication, therefore as long as you both adhere to your meds then you’ll be fine. As you’re both on medication, you don’t really need to use condoms as you’re protected by the ARVs.
If the couple is both on ARV’s but do not use a condom, will they both become resistant to the meds their taking?
Hi Nama,
The aim of taking ART is to get your viral load to below 50 copies/mL. This is called being undetectable.
The good news is that being undetectable means HIV can not be transmitted. That’s even if you don’t use condoms. Please see Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U) here.
If you are undetectable on ARVs you can’t pass on HIV. So you can’t pass on resistance.
If someone is hiv-and got infected by someone who is on haart does that person becomes resistant to ARVS.