Encounter with a Stripper

[helpme01]

Hi,

Here is my situation:

I recently open mouth kissed with a stripper for approximately 1 minute.  Now before you immediately write this off, let me say this.  I had a fairly large open cut on my lower lip that was likely bleeding. (due to having extremely chap lips at the time and me breaking open the dry skin)  We open mouth kissed for approximately 1 minute.

Now, approximately 4 weeks later I am experiencing signs of seroconversion.  For the last 6 days I've had a terrible cough, coughing almost non-stop.  I was stuck in bed and unable to work for a couple days, feeling very ill.  Had a fever, runny nose, soreness in my legs, just feeling terrible.  

10 days before I started to get ill I had a bunch of raised red bumps on my elbow area.    Could this be a seroconversion rash?

I HAVE read of reported cases of people testing positive from open mouth kissing because of open cuts:

http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/qa/qa17.htm

What are the odds I'm infected?

[Edward W Hook, MD]

yes.  EWH

[helpme01]

So should we completely ignore the open cut I had on my lip?

[Edward W Hook, MD]

You are not infected.  There are no good cases of HIV transmission describe by open mouth kissing.  The questions that have been reported are suspect.  Your risk is low because:
1.  You do not know she was infected- she was probably not on a statistical basis
2.  The odds of getting HIV through oral sex are less than 1 in 10,000 and that estimate includes people with open mouth sores, gum disease and other factors which might increase transmission.
3.  Your odds are lower- you did not have sex, just kissing

Your odds of being hit by lightening are much higher than your odds of having gotten HIV.  You symptoms do not change this estimate.  The symptoms you describe are the symptoms of a cold, not the ARS.  EWH