‘Risk’ has long been at the centre of expert and popular perceptions of transmissible and stigmatised blood-borne viral infections, such as HIV and viral hepatitis. There is a substantial body of research on transmission risk among couples with mixed viral infection status (serodiscordance). But we know very little about how families affected by HIV and viral hepatitis engage with understandings of infectiousness and how these shape family relationships in different ways. Guided by cultural theories of risk that build on Mary Douglas’ work, we draw on qualitative interviews to explore the ‘performativity’ of risk in serodiscordant families in Australia. We show how the ‘doing’ of risk could be constitutive of difference, which unsettled the family connection or deepened existing fault lines. Conversely, the ‘undoing’ of risk enabled the preservation of the family bond by rejecting difference and reframing risk as an external threat to the family in the form of stigma. We conclude that risk in the context of serodiscordant families had relational implications far beyond viral transmission and consider what our findings might mean for service provision and health promotion campaigns related to blood-borne viruses.

长期以来，“风险”一直是传播艾滋病毒和病毒性肝炎等可传播和污名化的血源性病毒感染的专家和普遍看法的中心。对于混合病毒感染状况（血清不和谐）的夫妻之间的传播风险，已有大量研究。但是，我们对受艾滋病毒和病毒性肝炎影响的家庭如何与感染力的理解以及这些疾病如何以不同方式影响家庭关系的了解很少。在以玛丽·道格拉斯（Mary Douglas）的工作为基础的风险文化理论的指导下，我们进行了定性访谈，以探讨澳大利亚血清胶粘剂家庭的风险“表现力”。我们展示了风险的“行为方式”如何构成差异，这会动摇家庭联系或加深现有的断层线。反过来，风险的“消除”通过拒绝差异并以污名的形式将风险重新定义为对家庭的外部威胁，从而维护了家庭纽带。我们得出的结论是，血清腐蚀剂家族中的风险具有远远超出病毒传播的相关影响，并考虑我们的发现对与血液传播病毒有关的服务提供和健康促进活动可能意味着什么。