Study shows that the negative partner becoming positive isn’t the only danger in bareback-focused discordant relationships

By | 19th December 2017

Ten gay men became infected with HIV during the Danish PARTNER study. The research looked at discordant gay couples (where one is HIV+ and one is negative) .

But, interestingly, when the strains of HIV were analysed, it was found that none of them had contracted HIV from their positive partner. They had been infected outside of the relationship.

An incredible 33 percent of the HIV-negative gay men involved in the study reported having condomless sex with other partners. This seems quite insane. One must ask whether these are typical gay men or in fact bugchasers who seek and fetishise infection with HIV,  perhaps feel that they somehow deserve to get HIV due to low self-esteem or that becoming infected is inevitable.

It’s reasonable to assume that the positive partners were having bareback sex outside of the relationship too. Though perhaps some weren’t.

Articles like this one asks “How Safe Is Condomless Sex When Partner With HIV Takes Meds?” But this fails to consider the risk to the health of the positive partner.

He may have his treatment and general health compromised by different strains of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases which are very likely to be picked up regularly from the cesspool of bareback partners outside of the relationship.

Increasingly drug resistant versions of these diseases are circulating, which could be extremely problematic for a healthy person let alone one who already has HIV.

As we’ve mentioned before, studies aren’t real life. In this one, none of the (333 approximately) negative gay men were infected by their undetectable positive partners. But outside of the relationship was a different matter. Ten of them (3%) failed to keep themselves safe from HIV in a period of just over one year.

In addition the risk of contracting HIV from their undetectable partner was reckoned to be as high as 0.7 percent per year. That’s a 7% risk over a decade.

Think about that for a moment… If you’re aged 20 now, and regularly have sex with undetectable partners without a condom, by the time you’re 50 that’s a 21% chance you will be positive. But that isn’t the whole story, because it assumes all your partners are actually undetectable. In the real world some won’t be. Their infection rate will have changed without them knowing or they could be lying to you to get bareback sex.

Are you feeling lucky? On the other hand, use a condom effectively every time, and you’re very unlikely to become HIV+.

A recent article from GMFA (Gay Men Fighting AIDS [badly]) describes how the HIV+ partner in a relationship persuaded his negative partner that barebacking would be OK due to his undetectable status.

Don’t believe this propaganda. So many young gay men are going to be burnt by this foolishness.

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