Aa
Is this HIV
Hi Doctor.
I need an expert assessment regarding ARS identification. My situation maybe a bit different than the "usual" cases you see every day, but here it goes:
On May 1st, 2010 my pet was very sick, I took her to the vet. Up on handing, she scratched my chest and left a deep mark there. On May 16th, exact 2 weeks after then incident I began to feel sick. At first, I had terrible diarrhea which lasted 3-4 days. After the diarrhea clears up, I had headache, dizziness, skin rash (all over my body), muscle pain and flu-like syndrome. I took a trip to the ER on May 19th. The ER doctor examined my skin rash and thought it might be caused by some sorts of virus. Which made me to think what if my pet scratched someone (the people who were there to help me, the doc, ect) with HIV+ before scratched my chest? Would I get HIV too?
To complicate things, before I have all this "ARS", I was taking ERGAMISOL for worm infestation. ERGAMISOL has the same side effect as ARS, their website can be found here: http://home.intekom.com/pharm/janssen/ergamis.html
from what I read so far, syndromes of ARS will come and go at once. In my case, my diarrhea comes first( lasted 3-4 days), then muscle pain (still having), then headache (still having), then skin rash ( last 3 days, took Loratadine, now gone).
For your judgment, I put together a timeline:
5/1/2010 scratch on chest by pet while handing her with other people
5/10/2010 start Ergamisol treatment
5/14/2010 stopped ergamisol treatment, experienced some diarrhea between treatments
5/16/2010 last major diarrhea
5/17/2010 first day muscle pain (still experiencing)
5/18/2010 first day headache (still experiencing)
5/18/2010 skin rash
5/20/2010 took loratadine for skin rash
5/21/2010 skin rash gone
I have some questions:
#1. does this sound like ARS?
#2. Do I need to worry HIV from this incident?
#3. When to test if yes?
Thank you
I need an expert assessment regarding ARS identification. My situation maybe a bit different than the "usual" cases you see every day, but here it goes:
On May 1st, 2010 my pet was very sick, I took her to the vet. Up on handing, she scratched my chest and left a deep mark there. On May 16th, exact 2 weeks after then incident I began to feel sick. At first, I had terrible diarrhea which lasted 3-4 days. After the diarrhea clears up, I had headache, dizziness, skin rash (all over my body), muscle pain and flu-like syndrome. I took a trip to the ER on May 19th. The ER doctor examined my skin rash and thought it might be caused by some sorts of virus. Which made me to think what if my pet scratched someone (the people who were there to help me, the doc, ect) with HIV+ before scratched my chest? Would I get HIV too?
To complicate things, before I have all this "ARS", I was taking ERGAMISOL for worm infestation. ERGAMISOL has the same side effect as ARS, their website can be found here: http://home.intekom.com/pharm/janssen/ergamis.html
from what I read so far, syndromes of ARS will come and go at once. In my case, my diarrhea comes first( lasted 3-4 days), then muscle pain (still having), then headache (still having), then skin rash ( last 3 days, took Loratadine, now gone).
For your judgment, I put together a timeline:
5/1/2010 scratch on chest by pet while handing her with other people
5/10/2010 start Ergamisol treatment
5/14/2010 stopped ergamisol treatment, experienced some diarrhea between treatments
5/16/2010 last major diarrhea
5/17/2010 first day muscle pain (still experiencing)
5/18/2010 first day headache (still experiencing)
5/18/2010 skin rash
5/20/2010 took loratadine for skin rash
5/21/2010 skin rash gone
I have some questions:
#1. does this sound like ARS?
#2. Do I need to worry HIV from this incident?
#3. When to test if yes?
Thank you
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
From time to time we have questions which are deleted as they are so unlikely as to be of no use to other readers and totally unrealistic. To be honest, I considered deleting this question. Instead you will get a single answer. The exposure you describe put you at no risk whatsoever of HIV and therefore there is no need to even consider testing related to either these symptoms or the scratch you experienced.
We have made repeated statements that the symptoms of the ARS are TOTALLY non-specific and when people experience "ARS symptoms" they are much more likely to have something else, usually some other, more typical, community acquired virus infection. When this has been studied in the US, less than 1% of persons seeking medical care for "ARS symptoms" are found to have HIV, the remainder having symptoms due to other processes. In contrast, over a given year, there is almost no one who has not had a viral illness, night sweats or both (sometimes on multiple occasions). For a person to try to judge their HIV risk based on "ARS symptoms" is a waste of time.
As I said, you are not at risk and do not need testing related to the exposure you describe. There will be no follow-up answers. EWH
We have made repeated statements that the symptoms of the ARS are TOTALLY non-specific and when people experience "ARS symptoms" they are much more likely to have something else, usually some other, more typical, community acquired virus infection. When this has been studied in the US, less than 1% of persons seeking medical care for "ARS symptoms" are found to have HIV, the remainder having symptoms due to other processes. In contrast, over a given year, there is almost no one who has not had a viral illness, night sweats or both (sometimes on multiple occasions). For a person to try to judge their HIV risk based on "ARS symptoms" is a waste of time.
As I said, you are not at risk and do not need testing related to the exposure you describe. There will be no follow-up answers. EWH
to clarify things a bit, the "ARS" started 2 days after discontinuing ergamisol.
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