Question
I’ve just resently started treatment, is my partner at risk?
18 December 2018. Related: All topics, HIV transmission.
I’ve been dating a guy for 4 year and I’m HIV positive. We’ve never used a condom and he’s circumcised. Is it possible that he could still have contracted HIV from me? I’ve just resently started medication, this was because I’m pregnant.
Answer
Thanks for getting in touch.
If you’ve been having sex without a condom when you weren’t on treatment there is a risk that your partner is HIV positive. Therefore, he is going to need to test. This is important for this own health.
If his test result is negative, this is great. However, until your viral load is undetectable you’re going to need to use condoms because there is a risk of transmission, this is even if your partner is circumcised.
Hi Josephat,
Unfortunately i-Base doesn’t have resources to answer more questions on testing and transmission. But please see this link for all FAQs.
But how is your girlfriend doing? Taking ARVs can be good for her health, but it can also reduce transmission of HIV to zero once viral load is undetectable. Please see this link to U=U.
I had sex with my girlfriend and on the process the condom broke,i assumed and continued for around 30seconds and changed another condom of which broke when i was ejaculating,and later on I discovered that she was HIV positive and she has been taking ARVs for the last one month,will i also be infected?
Hi Thash,
If your viral load is undetectable, there isn’t any risk to your partner. Please see the following: http://i-base.info/u-equals-u/
Unless you have issues with your medication there’s no reason why your viral load will rise.
My query is, if my viral load is undetactable and my partner is negative. My partner does not like using protection.
Will she be safe if we have unprotected sex consegatively or regularly? Are we safe? If so, how long can we do it and when should we stop?
This worries me because I don’t want my load to increase and infect her.