About HIV and HCV

[penny 23]

Hi Doc,
I had penile-vaginal sex with a male "friend" of mine. We had unprotected on 2 separate occasions that lasted for approx. 15 min each.  He did ejaculate atleast once, not so sure about the other time. Anyway, I eventually started to worry & tested. I
tested at 8 weeks and 16 weeks for HIV through ELISA.
The MAIN question I want to ask is:
1.) If I was co-infected with Hep C and HIV at the very SAME exact exposure time, would HIV antobodies still be detected at 16 weeks (when I tested)?  The reason I ask is because I heard somewhere that if coinfected at the same time, antibodies to Hepatitis C will be made first, therefore HIV antibodies may be made slower and not detected as soon.
2.) How long does it take for an ELISA to detect HCV, HBV, or HAV?  I was vaccinated for Hep A and B when I was younger.  I am 21 now.
3.) I know there is some controversy over whether Hep C is sexually transmitted but does it need direct blood to blood contact?  Can it be transmitted through penile-vaginal sex?
4.) Here is my last one (I read about this in the forums). Teak said that sometimes an HIV-1 antibody test will pick up HIV-2 antobodies. Can this happen?
Thanks doc.  I hope you can answer them.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

First, the risk of HCV isn't an issue; it is not an STD and is rarely transmitted by sex.

1) You heard wrong.  Except maybe for advanced cancer, no medical condition, including HCV infection, changes the timing or reliability of HIV test results.  

2) Your antibody tests will be positive, whenever you are tested, for HAV and HBV, from the vaccine.  HCV antibodies typically are detectable in a few weeks, but I don't know the exact timing.

3) There is no controversy.  HCV may rarely be transmitted sexually, but it is uncommon.  The frequency of HCV in the regular sex partners of persons with hepatitis C is no higher, on average, than the frequency in the general population--unless those sex partners also regularly share blood, e.g. through injection drug use with shared equipment.  The uncommon cases of sexual transmission probably do involve blood, e.g. traumatic anal sex.  There is no evidence that vaginal intercourse transmits HCV.

4) This is the second time someone on this forum has mentioned someone named Teak. I don't know who that is.  I'm not aware of cross reactivity between HIV-1 and -2 antibody tests, but I suppose it is possible.

Your HIV test result prove without doubt you weren't infected during the sexual exposure you describe.  You're not at risk for HCV.

Good luck--  HHH, MD

[penny 23]

Thank you for that quick response.  Could you confidently say I am in the clear for HIV all together?  Hearing about HIV-2 in the forums, then seeing a negative HIV-1 result on my copy the doctor gave me, makes me a little nervous about HIV-2, even though I heard it is mostly in Africa, only in some in the U.S.

Of course, I am still noticing little symptoms here and there but I want to know if I had a very high risk exposure to begin with for HIV?  What are the chances my 8 week and 16 week test did not pick it up?   And what are the chances I could have contracted HIV-2?

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

You didn't need HIV testing at all, based on the exposure you describe. There is no chance you have HIV with a negative test at 16 weeks.  HIV-2 is extremely rare in the US.  Put your priorities in order:  the chance you're going to die tomorrow in a freak accident is thousands of times higher than the chance you caught HIV.

[penny 23]

I just thought of ONE more question, then I will stop asking.

Here's a scenario:

Suppose there was an IV drug user who injected drugs into his arm and the needle was infected with Hep C and HIV.  He became infected with both Hep C and HIV from that once time incident.  With having HCV also, would a test still show HIV antibodies by 3 the CDC's 3 month mark?  If someone had a coinfection with ANY type of Hepatitis, would the HIV antobodies still be produced at the same time if there was no coinfection with Hepatitis??  

I hope you can answer this last one.  Then I'm done asking.  

[monkeyflower]

You do NOT have HIV, you do NOT have HCV, and posting repeatedly under different names is not cool. It's actually pretty annoying, since your repeated questions block others from posting theirs. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I think you seriously need to consider counseling and meds.

[dumbo]

"Teak" is the self proclaimed HIV expert in the HIV SUpport Forum, who also apparently moderates the unmoderated HIV Support forum.  He was unfortunate and aquired HIV many years ago from a bone laceration or possibly anal sex.

People come here, get advice from you, the expert, then go there (HIV support forum) where eventually they question your advice for various reasons.  Basically most of his "advice"/assessments completely contradicts yours, confusing/scaring people even more.

This is why you are seeing more posts sometimes questioning what you give for advice.

Hope that clears it up.