Love life

Risks

Sexuality is as diverse as people are. And anything goes – as long as it’s fully consensual and no legal boundaries are overstepped. And however you live out your sexuality, if you’re aware of the risks and take the right action, you can stay healthy.

  1. The key takeaways
  2. Important
  3. Multiple sexual partners
  4. Having sex with people from groups with above-average levels of HIV or other STIs
  5. Situations involving an increased risk of HIV infection
  6. Sexual practices and high-risk situations
  7. Other situations with transmission risk

The key takeaways

The risks of contracting HIV or another sexually transmitted infection depend on the situation. The three most important factors that put you at higher risk are:

  • Multiple sexual partners
  • Having sex with people from groups in which HIV, other sexually transmitted infections (STI), and hepatitis B and C are more prevalent than average
  • Certain sexual practices

You can protect your health from risks by getting vaccinated, taking other protective measures and getting tested.

Important

If you’ve been in an HIV risk situation, you should immediately go to the accident and emergency department at a hospital. There, medical staff will check to see whether emergency HIV treatment, or PEP, is necessary. PEP must be taken within 48 hours, and ideally as soon as possible. PEP is not a ‘morning after pill’ and there’s no guarantee that it’ll work. It’s meant for emergencies as a last resort, for example if a condom breaks during sex.

The following are considered high-risk situations for HIV: • Any rape • Anal sex between men without a condom or PrEP • Anal or vaginal sex without a condom or PrEP with people from or in countries where HIV is particularly prevalent • Exception: people living with HIV who are receiving effective HIV therapy can no longer transmit the virus.

 

Find an accident & emergency department for PEP now

 
 

Multiple sexual partners

The more sexual partners you have, the higher the likelihood of spreading sexually transmitted infections. What matters is not just your number of sexual partners, but also that of each of your sexual partners. There is a higher risk in the following situations:

  • Group sex
  • Sex parties or clubs
  • Paid sex

Having sex with people from groups with above-average levels of HIV or other STIs

Some groups of people are more affected by certain sexually transmitted infections (STIs) than others. The following are more affected by HIV, other STIs, and hepatitis B and C:

  • Gay, bisexual, queer, and other men who have sex with men
  • People from countries with higher incidence of HIV or hepatitis B and C
  • People who inject or snort drugs
  • Sex workers
  • Clients who pay for sex
  • Trans people

Situations involving an increased risk of HIV infection

In the following cases, with anal or vaginal sex, there is an increased risk of HIV infection if you don’t use a condom, or if the condom rips, and you’re not using PrEP:

  • You have sex with someone who doesn’t know their current HIV status. They could be living with HIV without being aware of it.
  • You have sex with someone from a group with a high rate of HIV infection. See the list above.
  • You have sex with someone from a country which has high HIV prevalence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_HIV/AIDS_adult_prevalence_rate).
  • The person you have sex with is living with HIV, but their therapy is not yet sufficiently effective to prevent HIV transmission.

People living with HIV who are receiving effective therapy do not transmit the virus. Having sex with someone in this situation does not pose any risk. This is known as U=U (undetectable = untransmittable).

Sexual practices and high-risk situations

Other situations with transmission risk

Your Safer Sex Check

Do the personal Safer Sex Check now to get individual recommendations on protection and testing.