Visit Doctors
Visit
Visit
Call Doctors
Call
Call
Ask Doctors
Ask
Ask
Feed
Home
26 years
If both partners are HIV positive, should they use condoms?
Dec 26, 2014

Dr. Zakia Dimassi Pediatrics

Condoms must be used across the board, regardless of the HIV status, to avoid contracting any sexually transmitted infection (STI), and because people with HIV are not infected with the same strain of the virus (there are types, groups, and subtypes of this virus, check the following link for more information: http://www.avert.org/hiv-types.htm). So if one partner has HIV type 1 and the other has type 2 HIV, they may transmit the viruses to one another. This is known as "superinfection", during which the second infection occurs several months after the first, as the body's immune response to the first virus is sometimes not strong enough to prevent infection with a second strain, especially with a virus belonging to a different subtype. 


 •