Question
My husband is positive, why am I negative?
15 December 2010. Related: All topics, HIV transmission.
My husband of 10 years just tested positive for HIV with a a viral load count of 300,000 and a CD4 count of 64.
We have had frequent sex and virtually all of our sex was unprotected for the past 10 years. How is it that I tested negative?
Answer
Thank you for your question.
Your situation is not uncommon. There have been documented cases of people having multiple exposures to HIV, usually from the same person although sometimes with multiple partners, and still not getting HIV themselves. The exact mechanism for this is not fully known but it is thought that if people are continuously exposed to low level infection then they build up a local immunity to HIV. This immunity is not always lasting and so you may need to protect yourself in the future.
Another possibility is that a very rare genetic mutation can make some people immune to HIV infection. For more information please follow this link.
For more information please about people who are exposed to HIV repeatedly and are not infected follow this link.
You have been very lucky. It is possible that you could still become infected in the future and so if you can you should try to prevent infection in the future. For more information on how to do this please follow this link