¿Cómo me protejo yo y mi pareja(s) del VIH, Hepatitis Viral, y las ETS?

Prevención del VIH

Su vida es importante y mantenerse saludable es importante. Es importante para usted, las personas que se preocupan por usted, y su comunidad. Saber su estado con respecto al VIH le da una importante información para ayudarle a adoptar medidas para mantenerle a usted y sus parejas saludables. Usted debería hacerse la prueba del VIH, y animar a sus parejas a hacerse la prueba también. Para las personas sexualmente activas, hoy más que nunca se dispone de herramientas para prevenir el VIH. La siguiente lista proporciona varias maneras de disminuir la posibilidad de contraer VIH. Entre más de estas acciones tome, más seguro estará.

• Get tested and treated for other STDs and encourage your partners to do the same. All adults and adolescents from ages 13-64 should be tested at least once for HIV and high-risk groups get tested more often.  STDs can have long-term health consequences.  They can also increase your chance of getting HIV or transmitting it to others. It is important to have an honest and open talk with your healthcare provider and ask whether you should be tested for STDs.  Your healthcare provider can offer you the best care if you discuss your sexual history openly. Find an HIV/STD testing site.
• Choose less risky sexual behaviors. Oral sex is much less risky than anal or vaginal sex for HIV transmission. Anal sex is the highest-risk sexual activity for HIV transmission. If you are HIV-negative, insertive anal sex (topping) is less risky for getting HIV than receptive anal sex (bottoming). Sexual activities that do not involve the potential exchange of bodily fluids carry no risk for getting HIV (e.g., touching). 
• Use condoms consistently and correctly.
• Reduce the number of people you have sex with.  The number of sex partners you have affects your HIV risk. The more partners you have, the more likely you are to have a partner with HIV whose viral load is not suppressed or to have a sex partner with a sexually transmitted disease. Both of these factors can increase the risk of HIV transmission.
• Talk to your doctor about pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). CDC recommends that PrEP be considered for people who are HIIV-negative and at substancial risk for HIV. For sexual transmission, this includes HIIV-negative persons who are in an ongoing relationship with an HIV-positive partner. It also includes anyone who 1) is not in a mutually monogamous* relationship with a partner who recently tested HIV-negative, and 2) is a gay or bisexual man who has had anal sex without a condom or been diagnosed with an STD in the past 6 months; or heterosexual man or woman who does not regularly use condoms during sex with partners of unknown HIV status who are at substantial risk of HIV infection (e.g., people who inject drugs or have bisexual male partners). For people who inject drugs, this includes those who have injected illicit drugs in the past 6 months and who have shared injection equipment or been in drug treatment for injection drug use in the past 6 months. See more information at http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/prep.html
• Talk to your doctor right away (within 3 days) about post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) if you have a possible exposure to HIV.  An example of a possible exposure is if you have anal or vaginal sex without a condom with someone who is or may be HIV-positive, and you are HIV-negative and not taking PrEP. Your chance of exposure to HIV is lower if your HIV-positive partner is taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) consistently and correctly, especially if his/her viral load is undetectable (see Can I transmit HIV if I have an undetectable viral load). Starting medicine immediately (known as post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP) and taking it daily for 4 weeks reduces your chance of getting HIV.
• If your partner has HIV, encourage your partner to get into care and to take HIV medicine as prescribed.  Taking HIV medicine as prescribed can make the level of virus in their body very low (called viral suppression) or even undetectable. A person with HIV who gets and stays virally suppressed or undetectable can stay healthy and has effectively no risk of transmitting HIV to HIV-negative partners through sex.

Prevención de la hepatitis

La mejor manera de prevenir la hepatitis A y B es vacunándose. No hay vacunas disponibles para prevenir la hepatitis C. La mejor manera de prevenir la hepatitis C es evitando los comportamientos que puedan propagar la enfermedad, tales como compartir jeringas u otro equipo para inyectarse drogas.

Prevención de ETS

La única manera de evitar las ETS es no tener sexo vaginal, anal u oral. Si usted es sexualmente activo, usted puede hacer varias cosas para disminuir la probabilidad de contraer ETS incluyendo:

• Hacerse la prueba por ETS y animar a su pareja(s) a hacer lo mismo. Es importante tener una conversación honesta y abierta con su proveedor de salud y preguntarle si usted debería hacerse los exámenes para ETS. Su proveedor de salud le puede ofrecer el mejor cuidado y discutir su historia sexual abiertamente.  Encuentre un lugar para la prueba de ETS.
• Vacunarse.  Las vacunas son seguras, efectivas y lo recomendado para prevenir la hepatitis A, hepatitis B y el VPH.
• La monogamia mutua significa que usted se compromete a tener una vida sexual activa con una sola persona, que ha accedido a tener una vida sexual activa sólo con usted.
• Disminuya su número de parejas sexuales.  Al hacerlo, usted disminuye su riesgo de ETS. Es todavía importante que usted y su pareja se hagan la prueba, y que ustedes compartan los resultados uno con el otro.
• Use un condón cada vez que tenga sexo vaginal, anal u oral. El uso correcto y consistente del  condón masculino de látex es muy efectivo para reducir la transmisión de ETS.