People who are at high risk of acquiring the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) should know how to protect themselves from the virus. According to HIV.gov, those especially at risk include: 

 

What is important to note, though, is that you can have a healthy relationship (and sex life) with someone who has HIV without exposing yourself to the virus.

 

A growing body of evidence is finding that when people with HIV take certain steps, the risk that they will transmit the virus to someone else can be extremely low. But because you can get HIV from even a single encounter, prevention requires an ongoing commitment by everyone involved. Here is what you should know to protect yourself from HIV.

 

 

Short for “pre-exposure prophylaxis,” PrEP is medication that can reduce a persons risk of contracting HIV by about 99 percent when taken as prescribed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). PrEP can be taken as a once-daily pill; as an “on-demand” regimen of three pills (2 to 24 hours before sex, 24 hours after the first dose, and then 24 hours after the second dose); and as an injection.

 

If you (or your partner) regularly have sex with someone who is HIV positive, have sex without using condoms, or share needles with others, PrEP can be a powerful tool for preventing the spread of HIV.

 

Additionally, if you believe you were exposed to HIV during sex — for example, if a sexual partner was recently diagnosed with HIV — you can take emergency pills called PEP, or “postexposure prophylaxis.” A 28-day course of medication, PEP treatment needs to be taken within three days after a potential infection to help block the virus from taking root in your body, according to HIVinfo.

 

 

Antiretroviral therapy, or ART, can reduce the amount of HIV in a persons blood to undetectable levels — an amount that can not be detected by modern technology, which is less than 200 copies of the virus per milliliter of blood. If your partner is taking ART and maintaining undetectable levels, the risk of them passing the virus to you during sex may be virtually nonexistent, according to the CDC.

 

 

For ART to be effective, people must take the medication every day, at the same time each day. Skipping doses can cause the virus to replicate unchecked and possibly mutate into a form that is resistant to the medication. If that occurs, a persons viral load count may increase, which means there is a greater likelihood that the virus can be transmitted to someone else during sex.

 

 

Condoms continue to be an important and highly effective method to prevent HIV infection, advises the CDC. Even if an HIV-positive partners viral load count is undetectable, there are plenty of additional reasons to use condoms. Not only do they help prevent an unwanted pregnancy, but they also protect against other STIs — such as syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia infections — some of which can increase inflammation and raise your risk of getting HIV. “If you [or your partner] have a genital sore and you are going to have sex that day,” says Dr. Gandhi, “use a condom.”

 

 

Anytime you share a needle with someone, whether you are injecting steroids, hormones, or drugs, you are at risk of HIV and other blood infections. And it is not just the needle and syringe that can transmit the virus; you can also get HIV by sharing the water that is used to clean the equipment or reusing filters and other containers. That is because the equipment or water could contain blood and, therefore, the virus itself.

 

The best thing you can do if you use drugs is to seek treatment. For example, if you use heroin, joining a methadone program could help you manage your addiction without the use of needles, lowering your risk of HIV.

 

 

If you are currently HIV negative, it is important to be tested for any change in your status. If a test shows you have contracted the virus, your risk of spreading it to someone else is greatest in the acute phase, or the first two to four weeks after being infected, per the CDC. During that period, the viral load (a measurement of how much HIV is in your blood) spikes, increasing the likelihood you will transmit the virus. Although some people experience flu-like symptoms in the acute phase, many are not aware that they are infected because they do not feel sick at all or might not feel sick until later, according to the CDC.

 

 

The virus is only transmitted in specific ways: mainly through anal or vaginal sex or by sharing needles. There are plenty of ways HIV is not spread, including kissing, hugging, or sharing eating utensils, all of which you can do with a loved one who has HIV without worrying about contracting the virus.

 

And if you know that your HIV-positive partner is on ART and their viral load is undetectable, try to forget about HIV during sex, too, Gandhi says: “It should be a pleasurable thing.”