HIV: Is there a test to know which one of us infected the other

Aug 17, 2016

Is there any test that we can do to show which one of us could have infected the other?

Dear doctor, recently I went for antenatal care because I am four months pregnant and was advised to do an HIV test, which I did. I was found to be HIV positive.

When I reached home, I told my husband about it. He was mad at me as expected. The next day he came back saying he too was HIV positive and blamed me for infecting him with the virus. Is there any test that we can do to show which one of us could have infected the other? Carol.


Answer

Dear Carol, I cannot see how we can prove which one of you got infected first and infected the other or whether the virus you carry may even be from different sources.

We do not have the capacity in Uganda at the moment to do such tests and even if we were able to do them they would not be very useful.

HIV is a family disease, so instead of wasting precious time trying to establish who brought it in the family in order to apportion blame you should seek counseling as a couple and learn how to live with the disease and prevent new infections.

The most critical issue I see at the moment is protecting your unborn baby from being infected with the virus that you carry if it has not yet been infected.

Prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV is now possible once the mother is put on ARVs early enough so that her viral load or amount of HIV in the blood is maximally and sustainably suppressed.

This drastically reduces the risk of mother to child transmission apart from protecting the mother from developing serious opportunistic infections that are characteristic of AIDS.

Question answered by Dr. Steven Watiti

For any health- related question, send to health@newvision.co.ug




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