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Seeking peace of mind re: possible percutaneous exposure
34 yo male
Certain I'm being neurotic here, but would be great if I could get some reassurance.
I went to New Orleans for a friend's bachelor party. (Some of his college friends from another circle are a fair bit crazier than what I'm used to, so I think my fear about being with those guys is coloring much of this.) This past Saturday, we went to a strip club, and my buddy bought me a lap dance. Didn't do anything weird beyond what a lap dance is (theoretically) supposed to entail. No inserting anything anywhere, no contact except for me (fully clothed) holding the girl (topless) and her sitting on me and dancing.
In any case, afterward I realized that I had some scrapes on my forearm (http://imgur.com/Upxgejj). The scrapes weren't from the dance, as there was nothing approaching any kind of rough contact, but working backwards, I've made an educated guess that they were from about 2 - 3 hours earlier in the day. (I was in the hotel pool and resting my arms on the side of the pool, holding my body weight up on this rough stone surface, and so that presumably caused the scratches.) So then my mind went to a bad place, like, oh, crap, what if she had some blood on her and I didn't notice it, and what if she's HIV-positive or positive for some other bloodborne pathogen, and what if it got in through the scrape on my arm during the dance?
Then late last night (Sunday), I fly back home and as I get off the plane, I notice I have a pretty decent sore throat. It's a little more pronounced today. I don't have any other symptoms (no headache, no fatigue, etc.), but combined with my general uneasiness about the situation, the fact that I'm kind of a square and the whole strip club thing is terrifying to me, and the fact that New Orleans (at least the touristy bit where we were) was generally dirty and seedy as hell, the sore throat is freaking me the hell out, like it may be the symptoms of an acute STI.
I've googled the usual sources, and most of the reputable looking stuff seems to suggest that there's no way I'm at risk for anything (given the timing, the symptoms, the fact that this would seem to be an exceedingly unlikely transmission route, and the fact that coming down with cold symptoms after spending a weekend drinking a lot, not sleeping, and being on an airplane for a combined 10 hours isn't unheard of), but I will occasionally see a doctor here or there pop up to say that, "Yes, you could potentially get exposed through a skin abrasion", or "Yes, you could show symptoms between 1 and 2 days post-exposure," so that's planting some doubt that's making me nervous.
So if anyone has any thought on whether or not my level of concern needs to be anything higher than a 0 on a scale from 1 to 10 about this, it would be very much appreciated. Thanks.
Certain I'm being neurotic here, but would be great if I could get some reassurance.
I went to New Orleans for a friend's bachelor party. (Some of his college friends from another circle are a fair bit crazier than what I'm used to, so I think my fear about being with those guys is coloring much of this.) This past Saturday, we went to a strip club, and my buddy bought me a lap dance. Didn't do anything weird beyond what a lap dance is (theoretically) supposed to entail. No inserting anything anywhere, no contact except for me (fully clothed) holding the girl (topless) and her sitting on me and dancing.
In any case, afterward I realized that I had some scrapes on my forearm (http://imgur.com/Upxgejj). The scrapes weren't from the dance, as there was nothing approaching any kind of rough contact, but working backwards, I've made an educated guess that they were from about 2 - 3 hours earlier in the day. (I was in the hotel pool and resting my arms on the side of the pool, holding my body weight up on this rough stone surface, and so that presumably caused the scratches.) So then my mind went to a bad place, like, oh, crap, what if she had some blood on her and I didn't notice it, and what if she's HIV-positive or positive for some other bloodborne pathogen, and what if it got in through the scrape on my arm during the dance?
Then late last night (Sunday), I fly back home and as I get off the plane, I notice I have a pretty decent sore throat. It's a little more pronounced today. I don't have any other symptoms (no headache, no fatigue, etc.), but combined with my general uneasiness about the situation, the fact that I'm kind of a square and the whole strip club thing is terrifying to me, and the fact that New Orleans (at least the touristy bit where we were) was generally dirty and seedy as hell, the sore throat is freaking me the hell out, like it may be the symptoms of an acute STI.
I've googled the usual sources, and most of the reputable looking stuff seems to suggest that there's no way I'm at risk for anything (given the timing, the symptoms, the fact that this would seem to be an exceedingly unlikely transmission route, and the fact that coming down with cold symptoms after spending a weekend drinking a lot, not sleeping, and being on an airplane for a combined 10 hours isn't unheard of), but I will occasionally see a doctor here or there pop up to say that, "Yes, you could potentially get exposed through a skin abrasion", or "Yes, you could show symptoms between 1 and 2 days post-exposure," so that's planting some doubt that's making me nervous.
So if anyone has any thought on whether or not my level of concern needs to be anything higher than a 0 on a scale from 1 to 10 about this, it would be very much appreciated. Thanks.
OK, fair enough. You just hear a lot of conflicting information about what can and can't happen as far as transmission, and this is a distressing situation, so it's good to have reassurance from an actual test if possible.
It doesn't matter what a test will do because you have been told no risk 3x's now.
Thanks, JamesD.
By the way, in my intense anxiety over this, I had an antibody test done at 16 days, and it came up negative. Is that informative at all? (I know Dr. Handsfield used to say that he'd expect a 2-week antibody test to catch 50% of all cases. Is that still thought to be the case?)
By the way, in my intense anxiety over this, I had an antibody test done at 16 days, and it came up negative. Is that informative at all? (I know Dr. Handsfield used to say that he'd expect a 2-week antibody test to catch 50% of all cases. Is that still thought to be the case?)
Guys, sorry to bump this, but I'm almost there as far as having peace of mind. I've read Dr. Handsfield's and Dr. Hook's opinions on this board extensively, and I understand now that HIV won't be transmitted without
-- Unprotected vaginal / anal sex
-- Injection drug use via shared needle
-- Direct introduction of infected blood into deep tissue
So that just leaves me with one concern with respect to my story, which I hope someone can put to bed. During the dance, I smacked the dancer's behind maybe 10 - 15 times with my hands. In the process of doing so, my
wrist scratches may have come into contact with the dancer's behind as well as part of the smacking motion. Given how wounds heal, would this carry any risk of breaking open the healing that had been done to that point, and if so, would it matter at all (as far as creating a route for foreign blood to enter deep enough into my tissue, if there was foreign blood on the area I was smacking)?
I know this is crazy, but a little reassurance on this and I think I'm good, as I now understand a lot more about how the virus can and can't be transmitted in general. Thanks.
-- Unprotected vaginal / anal sex
-- Injection drug use via shared needle
-- Direct introduction of infected blood into deep tissue
So that just leaves me with one concern with respect to my story, which I hope someone can put to bed. During the dance, I smacked the dancer's behind maybe 10 - 15 times with my hands. In the process of doing so, my
wrist scratches may have come into contact with the dancer's behind as well as part of the smacking motion. Given how wounds heal, would this carry any risk of breaking open the healing that had been done to that point, and if so, would it matter at all (as far as creating a route for foreign blood to enter deep enough into my tissue, if there was foreign blood on the area I was smacking)?
I know this is crazy, but a little reassurance on this and I think I'm good, as I now understand a lot more about how the virus can and can't be transmitted in general. Thanks.
No, that was the whole story -- I just held her up while she sat on me and gyrated mostly naked. Thanks for the advice. That helps.
You had absolutely NO RISK from the strip club regardless of your scraped arms.
Your sore throat is just that.........a sore throat. Unless you did something with the stripper you've failed to tell us about, you cannot contract an STD from simply being IN a strip club or being IN a city you find "dirty and seedy as hell."
Goggling symptoms is an absolute guarantee that you'll have contracted every disease known to man! Stay OFF those sites...........I don't care how "reliable" the site is. If you have a medical concern, see your doctor!
The "doctors" on those sites who say "Yes, you could potentially get exposed through a skin abrasion", or "Yes, you could show symptoms between 1 and 2 days post-exposure," are utter morons who need HIV education more than YOU do! Blow their BS off immediately.
On a scale of 1-10, your "risk" factor is somewhere around negative 0.
RubyWitch
Your sore throat is just that.........a sore throat. Unless you did something with the stripper you've failed to tell us about, you cannot contract an STD from simply being IN a strip club or being IN a city you find "dirty and seedy as hell."
Goggling symptoms is an absolute guarantee that you'll have contracted every disease known to man! Stay OFF those sites...........I don't care how "reliable" the site is. If you have a medical concern, see your doctor!
The "doctors" on those sites who say "Yes, you could potentially get exposed through a skin abrasion", or "Yes, you could show symptoms between 1 and 2 days post-exposure," are utter morons who need HIV education more than YOU do! Blow their BS off immediately.
On a scale of 1-10, your "risk" factor is somewhere around negative 0.
RubyWitch
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