Dr please

[Ronyyyy]

Dear Dr.10 weeks ago i had an unprotected sexual intercourse with a woman that i actually know, and a good friend of mine and assured me that she is clean but she cant know 100% because she doesnt know if her EX was cheating her or not. anyways:
day 6: mild sore thorat that lasted for less than 2 days (didnt affect my eating or drinking) took only strepsils and it went away
day 9: severe headache that lasted for 2 days, strange headache, woke me up the 1st night and lasted till the night after before i sleep, went away on its own after 2 days (very severe and strong)
day 10: severe cough night time specially that lasted for 5 days (very usual in me) but that time was a bit stronger.
week 4: i went to see my doctor, he took my temperature, it was 38.1% strange enough cause i didnt feel any fever at all. the doctor said its definitely from my infected tooth ( i had an infected tooth, very painful even with tones of antibiotics, it pained my eyes too) the doctor assured that the fever is from the tooth, he did ultra sound for my lymph nodes, they are all functioning normal (during the fever)
week 6: pain in my left knee joint, ended up with a tired leg as if i played a football match, and lasted for 2 days.(my doctor said its sure from my stress and worries that i had in week 2,3,4,and 5.
questions:
1), ARS sore throat, does it come mild like this ? and for 2 days only ?
2) ARS headache, can it come that severe and alone and for 2 days ? or more or less ? my Dr said that if the headache comes severe, means the viral load is high, means many other symproms should come severe too with the headache, is that true ?
3) can an infected broken tooth create a 38.1% fever ? a sore thorat and a cough?  normal lymph nodes during this fever is a good sign ?
5) are my symptoms similar to ars ? specially the headache which is the only unusual thing that happened.

thanks and all the best Dr.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

The signs you describe are in no way whatsoever suggestive of ARS.  There is a small chance that they could represent a more traditional STD and if that is a concern, you should go to to docotr and get tested for gonorrhea, chalamydia and nongonococcal urethritis.  You do not need to worry about ARS however.  EWH

[Ronyyyy]

Hi again doctor,
i will test after 10 days at home (12 weeks after possible exposure) and in case negative i will test again on week 13 to put it behind me. but meanwhile still the idea come to my mind.
i have been feeling burnings on the tip of my penis (top) for the last 2 days and before 2 days i was sometimes feeling some light pain in my balls, several times a day (2 or 3 times) 1 minute each, but the burning now is since 2 days. no rash or warts or any strange thing in the penis. what this might be ? i am on week 11 now after exposure, is it too late IF its ARS ?
thanks again Doctor
you are the best :)
Tony

[Ronyyyy]

Dear Dr.
i am very thankful for your answers.
i cannot get her tested cause she is also a foreigner here, and she doesnt seem so much interested and not even 1% worried about her status, when i saw the way she is living (dancing, chilling, drinking, working, holidays etc ...) i decided to do the same cause i felt a bit overreacting.
i will test home in few weeks cause i will test anyways before marriage in few months, so let me rest my mind from now, if it will rest.i forgot to mention that i had a runny nose too, and all the symptoms i described above happened to me 3 weeks before the risk and were stronger (sore throat 5 days) and severe dry cough and i know taht time that i am 1000% clean. the only unusual was the headache that really made me be worried like hell.
i am not sure you got my point Dr in question 3. i didnt find any swelling in lymph nodes in ultra sound when i had the 38.1 fever. they were all functioning normal, no problem in them at all. and thats what made my doctor smile too.
cheers Dr. thanks a lot for your time
Regards

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Your partner was low risk.  Her odds of infection are less than 1 in 100, at most.  Following a single unprotected exposure, if she had HIV, and she almost certainly did not, your chance of getting HIV is less than 1 in 1000.  Thus, on the basis of the math, your odds of infection are less than i1 in 100,000, at least.

ARS is a symptom complex which is highly variable.  Several of your symptoms are part of the ARS (fever, sore throat, muscles aches headache) and some are not - cough.  If you search this site you will see that each of us has stated literally hundreds of times that to try to gauge risk for HIV on ARS symptoms is a complete and utter waste of time.  Almost no one with a viral illness (and that is what you have described) has the ARS - they have a viral infection caught in the course of their normal activities.  That is what you have as well.  As for your questions:

1.  It is highly variable.  It cold last only a few days
2.  See above- text and no, 1
3.  Absolutely, on all counts.  Lymph node findings are irrelevant.
4.  They could be but the chance that they are is vanishingly rare.  I can just about promise you this is not ARS.

EWH
p.s. the cut might slightly increase your risk if it had happened during sex and if she was infected (which she wasn’t).

My advice.  Forget this - you do not have HIV. If you really want to know that you don’t, get her to get tested.  When you find out she is negative (and she will be) you can be sure that you could not have gotten it from the exposure you describe.  EWH

[Ronyyyy]

by the way, i had a small cut (opened skin) in the middle of my penis, does this increase the risk ?
thank you Dr.