I met an older man online and we’re ready to have sex. The issue is he is HIV positive. He says his status is “not detectable”. I trust him but looking it up online I’ve found opposing info. Is it safe for us to have anal sex? If not, what can we do?

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Portrait of thinking young manThanks for your question. It’s great that you’re thinking about how to have safer sex. Based on current research, if your partner takes HIV medications and he has an undetectable HIV viral load, then you will not get HIV from him during sex. That said, it’s recommended to use condoms with anal sex to prevent other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more information about how to prevent getting HIV from sex. (https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/hiv-prevention/protect-yourself-during-sex.html)