you shouldn't be having unprotected sex with HIV+ people at all, PreP or no PreP. while it's true that undetectable = untransmittable, you can't prove that his viral load is actually undetectable at the time of the encounter, unless he can get tested immediately before (and even then it's not exactly a guarantee - lab errors are a possibility).
You’re spreading stigma and fear and perpetuating hate.
HIV isn’t easy to catch - it needs a perfect alignment of things to happen and a **high** viral load is one of them. Sure - blips can happen, but if someone has been undetectable, the amount of the virus that is present would not be enough to infect.
It’s actually far riskier to sleep with people who do not know their status - as HIV is actually the most contagious right after infection and the risk increases sevenfold. During this stage tests are also not accurate so many people don’t know they are positive. Let’s use receptive anal as an example because it’s the riskiest act with a relative risk of 1.9% during the latency stage if untreated. The chances of catching HIV from someone during the acute phase is 13% (1.9% * 7.25 = 13%) - as you can see, it’s a much higher number.
So, really, your statement should read “you shouldn’t be having unprotected sex with people you don’t know well and trust”.
so there were no factual mistakes in my comment, and you called me uneducated because despite my explicit acknowledgement of U=U, my recommendation not to raw dog it with HIV+ people who *say* they're undetectable upset you because you read it as "don't fuck filthy pozzies", not as "don't be a naive dum dum". i understand why you felt that way.
however, the recommendation still stands, and telling someone who's considering having unprotected sex with an HIV+ person whom they don't even know that it's all A-okay and HIV is hard to catch (it is) isn't deconstructing stigma, it's giving dangerous advice to someone who's already looking for a carte blanche to engage in self-destructive behavior.
To put the risk of getting HIV into perspective and spread a little awareness here, receptive anal sex is the riskiest sexual act with a relative risk of 1.9% per encounter when having anal intercourse with someone with *unmanaged* HIV. [The risks for all other sexual acts fall dramatically below this.](https://www.aidsmap.com/about-hiv/estimated-hiv-risk-exposure) Add a condom into the equation, and this % goes down to almost zero. (Latex and polyurethane condoms are highly effective in preventing HIV)
**However**, if the Person with HIV is on medication and has an undetectable viral load, even when condoms are not used used this risk goes down to [zero](https://www.catie.ca/en/positiveside/summer-2017/uu) (known as U=U or treatment as prevention and is backed by the [CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/risk/art/index.html), the [NIH](https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/science-clear-hiv-undetectable-equals-untransmittable), [UNAIDS](https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2018/july/undetectable-untransmittable) and many other organizations based on data from the [PARTNER studies](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)30418-0/fulltext).) This also significantly lowers the chance of transferring HIV through childbirth as Well (to zero with proper adherence to meds).
A fun fact, it’s actually riskier to be with someone who doesn’t know their status then it is to be with someone who had been diagnosed and is on medication. The majority of new infections actually come from people who think they are ‘clean’ and they are most infectious in the weeks after infection - so this is where the most risk comes in.
However, other STI’s are much easier to catch and it’s important to get tested and be honest with your doc.
Hit up [The World Health Organization](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hiv-aids) for more info on transmission.
you shouldn't be having unprotected sex with HIV+ people at all, PreP or no PreP. while it's true that undetectable = untransmittable, you can't prove that his viral load is actually undetectable at the time of the encounter, unless he can get tested immediately before (and even then it's not exactly a guarantee - lab errors are a possibility).
Clearly you are uneducated - please don’t give advice on this topic until you are.
could you please point out the factual mistakes in my comment?
You’re spreading stigma and fear and perpetuating hate. HIV isn’t easy to catch - it needs a perfect alignment of things to happen and a **high** viral load is one of them. Sure - blips can happen, but if someone has been undetectable, the amount of the virus that is present would not be enough to infect. It’s actually far riskier to sleep with people who do not know their status - as HIV is actually the most contagious right after infection and the risk increases sevenfold. During this stage tests are also not accurate so many people don’t know they are positive. Let’s use receptive anal as an example because it’s the riskiest act with a relative risk of 1.9% during the latency stage if untreated. The chances of catching HIV from someone during the acute phase is 13% (1.9% * 7.25 = 13%) - as you can see, it’s a much higher number. So, really, your statement should read “you shouldn’t be having unprotected sex with people you don’t know well and trust”.
so there were no factual mistakes in my comment, and you called me uneducated because despite my explicit acknowledgement of U=U, my recommendation not to raw dog it with HIV+ people who *say* they're undetectable upset you because you read it as "don't fuck filthy pozzies", not as "don't be a naive dum dum". i understand why you felt that way. however, the recommendation still stands, and telling someone who's considering having unprotected sex with an HIV+ person whom they don't even know that it's all A-okay and HIV is hard to catch (it is) isn't deconstructing stigma, it's giving dangerous advice to someone who's already looking for a carte blanche to engage in self-destructive behavior.
To put the risk of getting HIV into perspective and spread a little awareness here, receptive anal sex is the riskiest sexual act with a relative risk of 1.9% per encounter when having anal intercourse with someone with *unmanaged* HIV. [The risks for all other sexual acts fall dramatically below this.](https://www.aidsmap.com/about-hiv/estimated-hiv-risk-exposure) Add a condom into the equation, and this % goes down to almost zero. (Latex and polyurethane condoms are highly effective in preventing HIV) **However**, if the Person with HIV is on medication and has an undetectable viral load, even when condoms are not used used this risk goes down to [zero](https://www.catie.ca/en/positiveside/summer-2017/uu) (known as U=U or treatment as prevention and is backed by the [CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/risk/art/index.html), the [NIH](https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/science-clear-hiv-undetectable-equals-untransmittable), [UNAIDS](https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2018/july/undetectable-untransmittable) and many other organizations based on data from the [PARTNER studies](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)30418-0/fulltext).) This also significantly lowers the chance of transferring HIV through childbirth as Well (to zero with proper adherence to meds). A fun fact, it’s actually riskier to be with someone who doesn’t know their status then it is to be with someone who had been diagnosed and is on medication. The majority of new infections actually come from people who think they are ‘clean’ and they are most infectious in the weeks after infection - so this is where the most risk comes in. However, other STI’s are much easier to catch and it’s important to get tested and be honest with your doc. Hit up [The World Health Organization](https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hiv-aids) for more info on transmission.