Question:

Perhaps you could help me to find information. I know you are a very busy man, but I am so confused and need to understand things a lot better.

My husband was diagnosed with HIV two years ago last month. We have been married twenty six years this year.

My problem is, I don't have HIV, after having unprotected sex with my husband all these years. What are the odds? I would love to think I am a miracle, but the fact is, when we researched my husband's medical records, we realized that he had had minor surgery about six to eight weeks prior to the onset of all of his symptoms. He had never been sick prior to this surgery.

My husband is doing very well, and his doctor actually said his numbers are getting better. My husband is vigilant about taking his medications. His biggest fear when he found out, was that I would contracted it from him or that I would leave him. Not a chance, and I really find it unlikely that I could not get HIV after so many years of having unprotected sex.

Help me if you can, I don't know where to begin with this.

Answer provided by:

Mark H. Katz, M.D.
Regional HIV/AIDS Physician Coordinator
Kaiser Permanente of Southern California

It has been observed for many years now that there are persons who are likely repeatedly exposed to HIV (such as a subset of African female sex workers) who never become infected despite estimates of dozens to hundreds of possible contacts each year.

The reason is not well understood. Some explanations which have been proposed are: The person has some "natural immunity" to HIV (we don't know how or why this would actually happen). The person has been exposed to small amounts of virus repeatedly and builds immunity, even though it is never measurable by blood tests. (You can see one study which deals with natural immunity, "Natural cytoplasmic molecules from seronegative high-risk subjects showing in vitro HIV-1 inhibiton activity," at http://www.aegis.org/pubs/aidsline/1997/jan/m9713613.html.

Or, maybe the person is just "lucky": Remember the estimated probability of contracting HIV from an act of unprotected intercourse with someone who is already positive is believed to be less than 1%.

Of course, the message here is that now that you know that he is positive, and you are not, it is vital that you both practice risk reduction techniques during sexual activity!

Good luck!

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