If you’re at a high risk of infection — for example, if your current sexual partner has HIV — taking an oral or injectable medication called PrEP can lower your risk of contracting HIV from sex by about 99 percent.
PrEP pills can also cut the risk of transmission among people who inject drugs by more than 74 percent. PrEP injections are not recommended for people who inject drugs.
In addition to taking PrEP, people who inject drugs can lower their HIV risk by using sterile needles and syringes. These can be obtained without a prescription at pharmacies and through syringe programs by state or local health departments.
To find substance abuse help, call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s national helpline at 800-662-HELP (4357) or visit its website for a list of treatment facilities near you.
When used correctly, condoms can also lower the risk of transmitting HIV as well as other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including syphilis, herpes, gonorrhea, and chlamydia. If a sexual partner has an untreated STI or an infection such as bacterial vaginosis, the risk of getting HIV increases as much as 8 times. To decrease your risk of HIV, it’s important to be tested for STIs, too.
If you have HIV, you can drastically reduce the odds of passing along the virus by taking antiretroviral therapy (ART). These medications can lower the amount of HIV that resides in the body, called viral load, to a level that’s undetectable by modern testing. People with HIV who take ART as prescribed and keep an undetectable viral load do not transmit HIV through sex.