Dear Doctor
I did HIV test today which came negative which is almost 5 weeks after the knife and full 1 week after the begining of the symptoms,
1-do think this is a good indication that I didn't catch HIV
2- because i've already completed full 7-8 days after the begining of the symptoms, do you think this is a garantee those were not ARS.
Thanks Doctor for your time.
PS i'm planning to retest again after another 5 weeks for a conclusive result
If your symptoms wer due to the ARS, your blood test might not be postive at that time but would be postive within a week after symptoms began.
The conditons which affect HIV survival vary according to temperature, humidity, etc. I can assure you however that live HIV would not survive on a knife in someone's pocket long enough to infect someone in the situation you described.
Please, let's not get into "what if" type questions. They are not a good use of your time of mine. EWH
Thanks doctor, however If the symptoms which I got were due to HIV ARS as i got tested negative correct so this confrim those are not ARS correct or should wait for another week to get a clear picture?
How long does the virus live outside the body and do think that minor scratch which the knife caused to my hand will make the virus able to entre my blood stream.
Thanks in advance
Welcome to our Forum. A agree with the doctor you spoke with. Your risk of HIV from the cut/scratch on your hand is not something to worry about. As you were told, HIV does not live long at all outside of the body and the probability that the knife was contaminated at all is very, very low.
Regarding your symptoms, the ARS is a non-specific illness which has exactly the same symptoms that many other illnesses do. The ARS is rare and almost everyone gets at least one or two community acquired, non-HIV viral illnesses every year. It is far, far more likely that your symptoms are due to something else than that they are due to HIV. I would also add that it would be unusual for the ARS to occur 4 weeks after an exposure- usually it occurs 2-3 weeks afterwards. This too makes it unlikely that your symptoms are the ARS.
Finally, regarding your blood test. AT 4 weeks following exposure, over 90% of persons who have become infected would have positive blood tests at 4 weeks. That your test is negative is additional evidence that you did not get HIV form the exposure you describe.
I hope these comments are helpful to you. EWH