Believe symptoms or Tests....?

Unprotected vaginal and oral sex on a first date. 4 days laterI had ARS ?: Swollen tonsils , fever, chills, cough/congestion . PCP gave  5 day course of amoxicillian (?) Cleared up except for a cough for 3-4 weeks .I developed painful collar nodes of varying intensity around post week 6 .
Confronted her after  illness, what did she give me? conversation went bad, then a non-working number and her profile deleted from the dating  site .She said she'd  returned from India a month  before .(1.) WHAT STRAIN COULD SHE HAVE PICKED UP IN INDIA THAT IS UNDETECTABLE WITH OUR TEST'S LIMITATIONS  ?
Tests:full panel STD and Syphillis (syphilis) week 5 -9 with 5 rapid blood tests, weeks +9 to 12 tested with 2 rapid blood,an Elisa 1/2 and a Pcr Rna. Post 12 weeks I had 4 rapid bloods ,3 Elisa 1/2, 1 pcr rna , 2 pcr dnas. all tests were  every 2 weeks with the last dna on week 29 + and the last elisa on week 24 + .
  Went to see a 4 star hiv doc at a 4 star hospital(week 27 ) who felt the  collar area , under arms and groin and felt no" immediate" concern .He did state the possibility that I could not be producing antibodys.(2) Because of a flu & pneumonia shot on 10/20/10 he asked me to return in 2 months for some  T-cell subset tests, but aren't they non hiv specific and can change as a result of flu or other disease( Which i have ) ?
      Received  call from a STD counselor that i'd been listed as a partner of a tesed positive partner and advised to  seek testing . I've had no sex partners since that encounter . I received a letter from the Hiv doc a few days ago that on second thought I come in as soon as possible for him to re-examine my collar nodes and schedule those  blood  tests .I've no secondary symptoms such as fatigue,mouth sores or sore throat ,fevers or night sweats . (3) Could tests so far miss a  N/O , one of the CRF's or non B clades ?  (4) How long post flu shot is it safe to Elisa test without fear of  a false positve from non-specific cross reacting antibodies ?  

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to our Forum.  I'll try to help.  

By and large you should believe the tests and not worry about symptoms.  Currently available test for HIV reliably detect HIV within 8 weeks of exposure.  In addition, the HIV PCR would have also detected HIV had you acquired infection.  Taken together there is no evidence that you have acquired from your exposure which is now more than 6 months ago.  The combination of tests you report would have detected virtually all strains of HIV including the very rare non B clades.  

It would be unusual to try to diagnose HIV using T-cell counts.  As you point out, they are non-specific and are used to judge HIV progression once a diagnosis is made, not for diagnosis.

Your 26 posts in the past two months clearly indicate this has you worried.  My advice would be to follow up with the health department.  They should be able to tell you (in person) what you were exposed to and offer testing.  Although you have had a recent flu shot, testing for HIV should be accurate and reliable at this time.  Even if you were exposed, most exposures to not lead to infection.

I would not worry.  EWH

[neednadvice]

   Thanks for your reply .I've tried to keep quiet  until some change in circumstance but  I'm finding myself at a crossroads , to much research , but more importantly to "exact"  symptoms . I would have loved to have symptoms cease and desist so I could move on . The neck ,collar and groin nodes are now constantly more often on than off and getting worse not better . The groin  area feels like it's heated or burning and the neck/ collar area is more stiff and painfull .
   Even with yesterday's 34th week Unigold rapid negative test , i cannot ignore the classic ARS after my encounter and now the nodes nodding in unison . I'm sorry I'm going to bust down the testing timetable walls and you and your partners adamant declerations , but I believe Symptoms trump Tests because Symptoms are REAL , tests are  inexact, are less than 100%  reliable , and there are numerous cases of late seroconversion, seronegative positive persons despite continuous negative tests,(Although not apparently EVERY  kind of test  negative ? ) albeit they're not very recent ,but the possibility exists.
    So I'm going in Monday for t-cell subsets , my spine tingles and gut gets the hee bee gee bees in my" knowing" . It was not a health department that gave me the partner notification but some service that notifies  positive diagnosed person's  partners . All I was told is that a partner was indeed infected and I should be tested, i told him i was  and am testing ,he just said see a physician . Every clinic , a couple non-Hiv physicians , counselors , you , Dr. Bob , one other non-physician on-line froum besides this sites,  on-line testing providers say NEGATIVE .
     Except for this Hiv doc on the East Coast who i know you have heard of and his hospital , he's not so willing to let the negative ship sale without EVERY stone un-turned , he's confident that t-cell subset tests will tell the story , even while admiting that I'd been written up if tested positive with all the tests I've had as far out as I have .
    So , i'm doing that  testing , and  again let him take all the t-cells tests , repeat my Elisa ,RNA, whatever . I just don't understand and are having  a very difficult time comprehending  why none of my  varied tests are positive if my partner was  positive ,?  But I'm as close as you can get with "right on" symptoms . The nodes make no sense except for an Hiv setting with all the various factors considered .
    I will ask him to post on my account his findings and test results on this thread when the positive flag is raised, and allow him to speak/email privately about my case while preserving my anonymity if it's  something that would you would have an interest in hearing ?
P.S. My dread is so great ,and I'm  laying the foundation  for acceptance , that i will make a generous donation  of $1,000 to the Hiv/Aids charity of yuor suggestion should i be wrong !

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Sorry.  I've made my reply.  I don't minimize or deny your symptoms but I do maintain that the symptoms that you are experiencing are symptoms which could be due to an enormous number of causes, not just HIV.  Further, following exposure, very, very few (less than 1% in ALL cases) exposures lead to infection.  You can test all you want.  I am confident that your additional tests will be negative and hope that you will ultimately accept that you do not have HIV so that you can then begin to work with your doctor as to what might actually be causing your problems.  

I'll look forward to hearing your next set of test results which I am confident will confirm what I've just said.  Until then, I have nothing more to say.  EWH

[neednadvice]

Thank you for your reply. Until the results of the T-cell subsets and CBC tests then .