Question
Is unprotected sex safe in pregnancy?
3 July 2013. Related: All topics, Pregnancy.
Hi, I wanted to know is it safe to have unprotected sex when your pregnant while taking ARVs?
Answer
Hi,
Can you give me a bit more information to help me answer your question?
Is the person/people that you are considering having unprotected sex with also HIV+? If they are, are they also on treatment?
Being on treatment with an undetectable viral load will mean that the chance of passing HIV to your baby is very very small.
The main considerations around unprotected sex are
- HIV reinfection (superinfection) if your partner(s) are HIV positive. This is really only a concern if your partner(s) have any drug resistance that could affect your treatment, and a detectable viral load. You can read about reinfection here.
- Transmission to your partner(s) if they are HIV negative. Again, if you have an undetectable viral load this is much less likely. You can read about transmission and viral load here.
- Other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). These can pose a risk to the health of your baby, and may increase the risk of transmitting HIV. It is therefore important that you and your partners are free from any STIs before having unprotected sex.
I hope this is helpful- please let me know if you have any questions or I can help further.
Hi Happy,
Congratulations on the news of your baby.
The best way to look after your health and your baby’s health is to take your ARVs. The aim of taking ARVs is to get your viral load to undetectable as soon as possible. Undetectable means having a viral load less than 50 copies. So treating your HIV like this will reduce the risk of your baby becoming HIV positive to almost zero.
Have you been on ARVs for long? Please let us know, and please tell us what ARVs you’re taking.
Here’s the i-Base guide to HIV pregnancy and women’s health. There’s a lot of info in this guide, including for after your baby is born.
Hi.
I’m 21weeks pregnant, HIV positive with 124 viral load,814 CD4.And my partner is HIV positive also with 618 CD4, positive reactive in HCT and we are both on ARV treatment but doing unprotected sex sometimes.
So I would like to know if what we are doing can affect our baby.
Hi Letticia,
If a child is going to contract HIV it will be from their mother, their fathers status is of no relevance.
No one can predict if a child will be negative or not, however because you’re on ARVs the risk will be drastically reduced. Please see here: http://i-base.info/guides/pregnancy
I’m pregnant n HIV positive on arv(treatment) but I don’t know my partner’s status n we having unprotected sex . Will I give birth to a HIV neg baby ?
Hi Josephine,
The status of your partner won’t have anything to do with the possible status of your child. This is because if a child is going to contract HIV its from their mothers.
Unless your viral load has been undetectable the whole time that you’ve been having sex with your partner, there’s a risk that they may also be positive. If this is the case they are going to need to test.
Getting STIs on a regular basis when you’re pregnant could have potential issues for yourself as well as your child.
I’m 29 weeks pregnant and hiv positive and on ARV but i don’t know the status of my partner and we are not using protection when having sex.I had an std when I was 13 weeks and sti when I was 28 weeks, i don’t know if my baby will be negative or not but I’m worried though.
Hi Lindokhule,
Please can you make your question a bit clearer? Are you and your partner on HIV treatment (ART)?
Have you been to the antenatal clinic or the doctor? Its important for your baby’s health that you talk to the doctor about your treatment.
Please let us know more.
Having unprotected sex while while 24 weeks pregnant when you and your partner are HIV positive, but free from STIs
Hi Amukelani,
It’s good for your health and your baby’s health that you’re taking ARVs. Having sex without condoms with your HIV negative partner is not a risk to your baby.
You are doing all you can to help protect your baby by taking ARVs. Here’s the guide to HIV pregnancy and women’s health.
The aim of ARVs is to try and get viral load reduced and to undetectable before your baby is delivered. ARVs can reduce your viral load dramatically as soon as you start taking them.
What ARVs are you on, and do you have access to your viral load and CD4 count? Please let us konw.
I’m 24 weeks pregnant on ARVs and I’m having unprotected sex with my partner who is hiv negative should I endanger my child during pregnancy