Almost everybody with ARS symptoms would have a positive HIV antibody test at 4 weeks. Whether or not I have had a patient who was negative for HIV at 4 weeks and positive later is pretty much irrelevant. It can happen. But the issue has never come up among my patients, because I have never had one who was positive after a single sexual exposure. Almost all persons with newly diagnosed HIV infections have had many possible exposures and do not know which event resulted in transmission. So this issue rarely comes up.
Please accept the reassurance you have had. Learn from the experience. But almost certainly you didn't catch HIV and I expect any and all future test results to be negative.
That should end this thread. Take care.
Thankyou for answering my question i just went to see my doctor my hiv serology and vdrl came back in today and it was all hiv negative and also i have no sti. I was wondering if you were having symptoms of ars and you did the blood test would it come back positive? The test was done at 4 weeks after exposure while i was having these symptoms, when would i go back and do another test, and what r my chances it might be hiv positve? Have You ever had a patient or heard of someone who is hiv negative after 4 weeks, then after 8 weeks test positive?Thank you for helping me out through this difficult time in my life.
Welcome to the HIV forum.
Yes, this was a high risk exposure. You can hardly get more risky than being topped by a male partner of uncertain HIV status. That said, it sounds quite unlikely your partner has HIV. People generally don't lie about HIV status -- or, for that matter, about their sexual risks. And your symptoms are not typical of acute HIV infection, as you apparently were told by your doctors -- and I certainly agree that much of what you describe sounds like anxiety more than anything else.
For those reasons, you can expect your HIV test to be negative. About 90-95% of newly infected people would have positive tests by then, so your negative result will be very reassuring -- but you'll still want to have another test in a few weeks. Follow your doctors' advice about it. (Alternatively, if your anal sex partner gets retested and is negative, you would know for sure you weren't at risk.)
Perhaps you don't need "the lecture"; it sounds like you understand how dumb your sexual choice was 4 weeks ago. Still, I give it whenever appropriate, hoping to influence other forum users in addition to the person asking the question.
To the extent you continue sex with other men, please never have anal sex without discussing mutual HIV status with your partner beforehand. Avoid anal sex -- top or bottom, even with a condom -- with men who are positive, don't know, or are evasive about it. And for all other partners, use condoms for anal sex. Follow these rules and all will be well. Consistently fail to do so and there's a good chance HIV is in your future.
But for now, I suspect all is well. Feel free to return and let me know your test result.
Regards-- HHH, MD