Risk Assessment

[SkyB]

Hello Dr,

On June 28th I had repetitive protective anal sex, and unprotected receptive Oral Sex. Anxiety set in as I learned that Oral Sex has a risk of transmitting HIV. The Anxiety set off my Allergies and I started taking Claritin, which helped.

Last week or so, I started to notice discomfort in my ears.

Today (July 17th) I had an HIV test which came back negative(3 week test). I also went to the Hospital to check out my ears. It turns out I have a viral infection in both ears. And the Doctor also noticed swollen glands on both side of my throat.

I am concerned. And my anxiety has sky rocketed. I am wondering if these are the starting of ARS. I do not have a fever, and do not have a rash. I know that those two are the most common symptoms.

Thank you.

[SkyB]

Thank you for the advice.

I will wait to take the 6 week rapid test.

The Doctor prescribed Flonase which helped my ears, and the two lymph nodes on either side of my throat seem to be less swollen.

Will update again when I take the 6 week test.

Thanks again for the reassurance.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

We do not recommend the PCR test in any except very unusual situations. Please see my earlier comment to another client about this issue at this link.  http://www.medhelp.org/posts/HIV-Prevention/Question-about-testing-/show/1287510
EWH

[SkyB]

Thank you for the assessment.

I was also wondering if you would advice getting a PCR test for peace of mind (My anxiety is pretty high still) or should I just wait to get the 6 week test? (and then 12 week for the conclusive result.)

Thank you.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Just a comment about your partner given the additonal information you have provided.  All military personnel are required to have regular HIV testing and are discharged from the military if found to be infected, thus he was probable telling you the truth about his HIV status.  

EWH

[SkyB]

Thanks for the reply.

1) It was only one partner. He was in the Military (Navy)  I asked if he was clean, he said yes, and said he was tested 1 month before. He could have been lying.

2) That is what I hear on the HIV prevention forums as well.

3) The condom did not break.

4) I have scheduled another test at 6 weeks (Aug 7th)

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to our Forum. My guess is that now, after the fact, you are having second thoughts about the wisdom of you activities.  Second thoughts are healthy and hopefully will help you to shape your choices in the future however, you can be confident that the activities that you just described did not put you at risk.  Let's review the reason why I say this:

1.  You don't say whether you had one or multiple partners. Either way however, it is unlikely that your partners had HIV.  Most people do not. In the future, it is always a good idea to ask partners if they have HIV and when they were last tested.  Most people do tell the truth.

2. Even if your partner had HIV, receptive oral sex has virtually no risk for HIV.  The quoted figure for HIV risk, if one has oral sex with an infected partner is less than 1 in 10,000 and, in my estimation that is too high. Some experts state there is no risk at all from oral sex.  Neither of us on this site have ever seen or reading the medical literature of a convincing instance in which HIV was passed by oral sex.

3. Your receptive rectal  exposures were condom protected. Unless they break, condoms provide excellent protection against HIV and other STDs so, even if your partner had HIV, there was no risk from this activity either.

4.  You had a negative blood test 3 weeks following the exposure. At  3 weeks about 65-70% of persons tested with a standard HIV test for antibodies will have a positive test. Thus while the result you received was not definitive, it provides additional strong evidence that you did not get HIV.

5.  Your symptoms are not likely to be HIV but are more likely to be due to a non-STD summer viral infection.  

I hope these comments are helpful. You need to not worry. EWH