Question
What are the risks from occasional unprotected sex?
14 August 2007. Related: All topics, HIV transmission, Living with HIV long-term.
Hi again, firstly thanks for answering my last question, it helped me a lot. Thanks.
My next question is the type that most doctors shy away from if asked outright.
I am married to my partner who is HIV-negative. I have been HIV+ for 3 years now and my CD4 is around 400 and my viral load is 40,000 copies.
Over the past 6 months we have occasionally had unprotected sex, me being the passive partner all the time. I always check that i have no cuts or problems before we have anal sex and that we use lots of lube. He simply can’t use a condom, we have tried lots of times, therefore we have made the decision to have sex unprotected on the odd ocassion.
The million dollar question is: How likely is it for him to get HIV. I must point out that I’m not advocating unsafe sex, but we are married and love each other and feel as though our love is more than enough for any risk taking. Its simply a personal preference that as two adults have agreed upon.
Answer
It is difficult to give a precise answer to your question, because there are so little accurate data from studies on each risk.
HIV levels have been shown to be very high in anal mucosa (the lining of your bottom) and if your partner is uncircumcised, the inside layer of his foreskin is an easy surface for the virus to pass though.
Viral load is one of the most important risk factors and treatment will bring this down to very low levels throughout your body.
Some people in this situation decide to start ARV treatment (HIV drugs) a bit earlier to reduce their viral load, and reduce any risk of transmission to sexual partners, even if they normally practice safer sex.
There will always be a risk of transmission – whether this is 1 in 100 or 1 in 10,000. This would be lower if your viral load was undetectable, but it would involve you taking treatment perhaps a year or two earlier than current guidelines recommend.
Although there may be other benefits for you in starting treatment earlier, this is still the subject of research.
This is long enough for you to know that you are HIV-negative.
Simon
Hi Simon. thanx for you responses earlier.
My husband find out that he is HIV-positive and i tested nagative last year September and again on the 12th of february 2008 but still nagative. Is there possibility that i might be HIV-positive three months after february? But since we find out he was positive, we had protected sex.
Thanx again.
You may still be HIV-positive. You need to wait until three months after the last time you had sex without a condom, in order to know that you are definitely HIV-negative.
If you are HIV-negative after three months, then this is because you have been very lucky.
If you continue to have sex without a condom, it is very likely that at some time in the future you will become infected.
After several times of sexual intercourse with my girlfriend, like over a year ago, and I later went for the test afterwards she told me she’s HIV-positive and I tested HIV-negative.
But I don’t understand why I am HIV-negative because we normally have sex with no condom
plz respond