Can You Be HIV positive and Not Infect Your Partner?

Can you be HIV positive and not infect your partner?

Yes, you can. Thanks to medical breakthroughs it’s possible to have sex while HIV + and not infect your partner.

December 1st is World AIDS Day

This initiative is observed annually on December 1st to commemorate the lives of those living with the disease and those that have died as a result of it. The goal is to raise awareness about HIV to move closer to an AIDS-free generation.

For this reason, I want to share this information to help you, someone you know, your children, your grandchildren, and even your friends stay negative.

Undetectable Viral Loads and PrEP

Today, it’s possible to live a healthy HIV + life with your HIV – partner using Anti-retroviral Therapy (ART) and Truvada for PrEP (Pre-exposure Prophylaxis).

ART is an HIV medicine that reduces the amount of HIV in the body, helping the HIV + stay healthy by keeping their immune system working.

PrEP is a once-daily preventative pill proven to reduce the risk of HIV transmission and helps HIV – people stay that way.

HIV + people who get treatment to get and keep their viral load under control become “undetectable” once the viral load is less than 200. Once the viral load is undetectable HIV is untransmittable.

Per the CDC, once the viral load is under control, “People living with HIV who take HIV medicine as prescribed and get and keep an undetectable viral load have effectively no risk of transmitting HIV to their HIV-negative sexual partners.” (Source)

Thanks to these breakthroughs, Jessica Glaspie-Davis is able to live HIV + without infecting her HIV – husband.

Watch this video and listen as Jessica Glaspie-Davis tells her story of contracting HIV, her physical and emotional battle with it, her advocacy efforts, and being HIV + and loveable.

HIV + or HIV –

Know your status. Get tested + stay getting tested.
Know the high-risk behaviors. Awareness is everything in this fight.
Know that your life is valuable. HIV + or HIV -, talk to a healthcare professional to find out how you can live a healthy life, reducing your risk of infection or infecting others. And if you have an HIV + status, know that HIV/AIDS is a diagnosis you can live with.

***See the links below for specific high-risk behaviors + news on PrEP***

Resources:

Transmittable Activities and Their Risk

Who’s at Higher Risk for HIV

The FDA Approves the Use of Truvada in Adolescents (2018)

First-ever FDA Approved Drug to Prevent HIV Transmission (2012)

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Photo by Henri Pham on Unsplash