Gay guys who talk about HIV before sex are much less likely to contract the virus, according to a new German study that also found evidence showing HIV likely has a tendency to transmit when gay men are in the early stages of a relationship. Researchers compared 105 recently diagnosed gay men with 105 HIV-negative controls and found that the HIV-positive men were 3.9 times more likely than the controls to be in a partnership with another man that had gone on for less than half a year. Discussing HIV before sex, meanwhile, was linked with an 82 percent reduction in the risk of becoming HIV positive. Those who either always used a condom for sex outside a relationship or didn’t have anal sex in that context had a 77 percent reduced likelihood of contracting the virus.