POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: 77543565 on July 08, 2012, 08:34:39 pm
-
I am a man and I've had unprotected sex with a man who is HIV positive; I was the "top". I knew the general risks from coming into contact with his blood or semen, but I just recently read that rectal secretions are also high risk. I also read that there's usually not enough of it to soak a urethral tube. Since we've been together, the last HIV test I got (which would have been less than a month after we started seeing each other) was negative and I'm due back in September for a followup. I know I did the wrong thing by not wearing a condom. That was my fault. I guess my question is, what is the true danger of a positive person's rectal secretions coming into contact with my penis?
-
Don't get caught up in details like rectal secretions. As the insertive partner your risk for HIV during unprotected anal intercourse is significantly lower than that of the receptive partner.
The odds are in your favor that you will come out of this ok. But low risk is not the same as no risk so you need to stop having unprotected intercourse. You can have it all you want but you need to do it the safer way. That means always and without exceptions using a condom properly during intercourse.
You can test at 3 months for a conclusive negative result. Good luck with that.
-
Don't get caught up in details like rectal secretions. As the insertive partner your risk for HIV during unprotected anal intercourse is significantly lower than that of the receptive partner.
The odds are in your favor that you will come out of this ok. But low risk is not the same as no risk so you need to stop having unprotected intercourse. You can have it all you want but you need to do it the safer way. That means always and without exceptions using a condom properly during intercourse.
You can test at 3 months for a conclusive negative result. Good luck with that.
Of course, if your partner was on meds and had an undetectable viral load, the risk is slim to none. In the future, until you know this (and other STD things) about your partner, you'd be wise to use a condom.
-
The partner I referred to has been + for several years and takes Atripla, but I'm not sure if he's undetectable or not. All I know is that he made the conscious decision to take meds instead of waiting for the doctor to say he had to.
I'm guessing this whole thing about rectal secretions being dangerous is new because I've read a lot of "How is HIV transmitted" articles, and it's almost never mentioned.
-
Unprotected anal is a risk. Period. You can go ahead an have unprotected if you choose to. As I have said previously, being the insertive partner is less risky and yes, if his viral load is undetectable the risk is very low.
But very low risk is not the same as no risk. The pleasure of sex without a condom is fleeting. Once acquire HIV is forever. So it's your choice to make.