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HIV Question - Please Help!
Hello Dr:
On Jan 10, I went to a gay sauna. I didn't know he was HIV+, later found this in profile online. We had oral sex, but he came on himself. We did have anal sex (I received only), but protection was used. I also received oral-anal.
He also fingered me (I was looking most of the time), & noticed he actually still had his condom on, although I think it was taken off at some point and I guess I'm not 100% sure if there was any precum that could have touched his fingers and then go into me that way - I never once saw him actually touch his penis, as odd as this may sound.
A week later I noticed a small rash on the right side under my ribs. Not bumpy/sore/itchy. Kinda blotchy - it also appeared a bit on my left arm..although they were more spots than a rash. They are gone now and barely visible.
Sex Health Clinic nurse said my risk was low - it was only day12, she did do a P24 test. Rapid Test = Neg.,I have had a skin condition in the past that comes and goes, my GP said yrs back I had a form of Folliculitis & gave me antibiotics for it.
Dr. looked at the pix too she said it looked more like Syphillis than HIV rash. But, my last contact was in Oct, and I had a Syphillis test done @ 4 week mark = neg. Apparently it can take up to 6 wks, but they agreed to be at 2ndary syph. so fast would be rare.
No fever, headache, extreme fatigue, nausea. They said anal/penis area=OK, ,no swollen lymph nodes. I have a bit of joint pain in my left hand, which could be from a lot of driving and PC. Gave me Doxycycline - it's possible my joint pain symptom could also be from this. Cough only lasted 2 days, which started a 4hrs after getting the regular flu shot.
Please:
1) Assess my risk level
2) What the rash more looks like based on the pix
3) How long for P24 Antigen results?
4) If I test neg @ 3-wk, is it more than likely the rash is something else?
http://s772.photobucket.com/albums/yy4/keifer2010/ I have posted them here -- thank you.
On Jan 10, I went to a gay sauna. I didn't know he was HIV+, later found this in profile online. We had oral sex, but he came on himself. We did have anal sex (I received only), but protection was used. I also received oral-anal.
He also fingered me (I was looking most of the time), & noticed he actually still had his condom on, although I think it was taken off at some point and I guess I'm not 100% sure if there was any precum that could have touched his fingers and then go into me that way - I never once saw him actually touch his penis, as odd as this may sound.
A week later I noticed a small rash on the right side under my ribs. Not bumpy/sore/itchy. Kinda blotchy - it also appeared a bit on my left arm..although they were more spots than a rash. They are gone now and barely visible.
Sex Health Clinic nurse said my risk was low - it was only day12, she did do a P24 test. Rapid Test = Neg.,I have had a skin condition in the past that comes and goes, my GP said yrs back I had a form of Folliculitis & gave me antibiotics for it.
Dr. looked at the pix too she said it looked more like Syphillis than HIV rash. But, my last contact was in Oct, and I had a Syphillis test done @ 4 week mark = neg. Apparently it can take up to 6 wks, but they agreed to be at 2ndary syph. so fast would be rare.
No fever, headache, extreme fatigue, nausea. They said anal/penis area=OK, ,no swollen lymph nodes. I have a bit of joint pain in my left hand, which could be from a lot of driving and PC. Gave me Doxycycline - it's possible my joint pain symptom could also be from this. Cough only lasted 2 days, which started a 4hrs after getting the regular flu shot.
Please:
1) Assess my risk level
2) What the rash more looks like based on the pix
3) How long for P24 Antigen results?
4) If I test neg @ 3-wk, is it more than likely the rash is something else?
http://s772.photobucket.com/albums/yy4/keifer2010/ I have posted them here -- thank you.
Hi there, so far P24 came back negative, as well as Syphillis, and all the other ghonorea and cylmidia stuff... so I have a question on 22nd January they gave me Doxycycline as I mentioned for 2 weeks, 2 pills per day. Although I didn't get the actual test done at the 4-6 week level, it was day 12, so technically the test could be off -- the medication would have killed off anything that was there, right?
Thanks for your reply. -- thanks for bringing some extra piece. The thing w/syphillis is that i was tested 4 weeks afterm y encounter in October which came back negative so if it was syphillis from that incident, that would be strange unless it's really 4-6 weeks but the clinic said they changed it to "4" weeks from "4-6". But, that based on my results, they may change it back -- because the nurse agreed it'd be quite strange to be at 2ndary Syphillis so fast less than 2 weeks.
So, should I just ask for another P24 test at the 4 week mark as opposed to keeping doing a rapid test? I'm going to go on Friday and do another rapid test, because I also want to see if they have my results - they only call if there is a problem and althuogh they say 3 weeks for everything, often I know they have stuff much earlier...
So, should I just ask for another P24 test at the 4 week mark as opposed to keeping doing a rapid test? I'm going to go on Friday and do another rapid test, because I also want to see if they have my results - they only call if there is a problem and althuogh they say 3 weeks for everything, often I know they have stuff much earlier...
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hi there,
First of all I would agree with the GUM clinic nurse about the very low risk of HIV infection from your encounter. I would even possibly add that this risk was practically zero.
Let me answer your questions below:
1) Assess my risk level:
No HIV risk from the oral, protected receptive anal (provided the condom remained intact), rimming and fingering. As you are not sure about the possible presence of precum, it is indeed difficult to estimate any risk, but even if this was the case this risk would be indeed negligible. However there is indeed a risk of syphilis and other STIs like Chlamydia and Gonorrhoea.
2) What the rash more looks like based on the pix
Difficult to be certain from the pictures. The rash looks more like eczema or dermatitis, even possibly an allergy. There is a possibility of being linked to syphilis. You need to have syphilis serology with a blood test. This will give you the clear diagnosis.
3) How long for P24 Antigen results?
Fully conclusive at 4 weeks from the encounter. However this can be detected much earlier.
4) If I test neg @ 3-wk, is it more than likely the rash is something else?
Yes, as an ARS rash would be caused by the HIV sero-conversion and antibodies would certainly be detectable even at three weeks.
Best wishes,
Dr Jose
First of all I would agree with the GUM clinic nurse about the very low risk of HIV infection from your encounter. I would even possibly add that this risk was practically zero.
Let me answer your questions below:
1) Assess my risk level:
No HIV risk from the oral, protected receptive anal (provided the condom remained intact), rimming and fingering. As you are not sure about the possible presence of precum, it is indeed difficult to estimate any risk, but even if this was the case this risk would be indeed negligible. However there is indeed a risk of syphilis and other STIs like Chlamydia and Gonorrhoea.
2) What the rash more looks like based on the pix
Difficult to be certain from the pictures. The rash looks more like eczema or dermatitis, even possibly an allergy. There is a possibility of being linked to syphilis. You need to have syphilis serology with a blood test. This will give you the clear diagnosis.
3) How long for P24 Antigen results?
Fully conclusive at 4 weeks from the encounter. However this can be detected much earlier.
4) If I test neg @ 3-wk, is it more than likely the rash is something else?
Yes, as an ARS rash would be caused by the HIV sero-conversion and antibodies would certainly be detectable even at three weeks.
Best wishes,
Dr Jose
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