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Cape Town Encounter

Hello Doctor,

While in Cape Town South Africa. I had both oral and vaginal sex with a prostitute. Certainly not one of my smarter decisions. The oral was unprotected, but do recall using a condom for the vaginal sex. She seemed to be extra careful not to put herself at risk. I later found out that 50% of the sex workers there have hiv or aids.

After returning to the states, I had a Labcorp 1/0/2 test done at 8 weeks. It was negative.

Would the Labcorp test find all strains of the virus found in South Africa?
What are my risks at this point.

Thanks in advance!

CC



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239123 tn?1267647614
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Welcome to the forum.  But apparently you missed the opening statement at the top of the forum, which is limited to STD questions other than those related to HIV/AIDS.  Accordingly, my reply is brief and there won't be an opportunity for follow-up discussion.

I agree the choice to have commercial sex in South Africa wasn't smart, but you were sufficiently wise to use a condom.  In any case, test results always outweigh exposure history in judging whether or not someone was infected, and your negative test at 8 weeks is definitive:  you were not infected.  The test detects any HIV infection anywhere in the world.

Because many experts continue to recommend a 3 month test for definitive results (even though it really isn't necessary with standard tests in routine use), you might want to have another test at that time.  But in the meantime you can be 100% certain you were not infected.

Regards--  HHH, MD
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Avatar universal
Thank you doctor.
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