HIV exposure, Herpes risk??, worried

Always been very careful, use condoms everytime, I haven't had many partners. made a mistake a few months back, started to get intimate with a girl I knew and penetrated her without a condom and then immediately withdrew b/c I didn't have a condom and didn't continue. I do not believe this girl is HIV+ but do not know for sure, she was a girl I met through a friend, but I'm more concerned with Herpes risk, I haven't had any symptoms but I've read that sometimes symptoms never occur. Should I be tested for both hiv and herpes based on this exposure. Thanks for your help!

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Your risk from a single exposure to a partner who you don't know too well is rather low.  Your exposure was brief and, contrary to what many believe, most people exposed to a partner with an STD of any sort do not acquire the STD to which they are exposed.  This is even truer for HIV than herpes but is very low in both instnaces and you really have no reason to think your partner might have been infected.  If exposed on a single occasion to a partner with HIV, odds of getting HIV through vaginal sex are less than one in 1000 per exposure. The data for herpes are not a precise however we do know again that although about 1 in 5 Americans has genital herpes; most exposures to an infected partner do not lead to infection.  Infection is more likely if the partner has lesions than not.

As far as your own recent exposure is concerned, the reason so much herpes is missed by persons who become infected is because they attribute their lesions to something else.  In your case you are concerned and will be on the lookout for sores or genital lesions.   If genital lesions appear within 10 days of your exposure, my advice would be to seek evaluation and a culture test from the lesion.  If none appear, then I would not worry and seek further testing since your likelihood of becoming infected would be prohibitively low.  A blood test at this time would be of little help.

Hope this is helpful.  Finally, as the topic of herpes is such a complex one, additional information from a reliable source may be helpful.  The disease is common with HSV-1 being present in over 60% of adults and HSV-2 (the virus which causes most genital herpes) being present in about 1 in 5 Americans.  For both infections, the majority of people who have the infections are not aware that they are infected, either because they either acquired it without knowing in the past or because they misidentified their herpes as something else.  Much information about herpes can be obtained by accessing excellent informational web sites such as the one run by the American Social Health Association (disclosure, Dr. Handsfield and I are both on the Board of Directors of ASHA).  Good luck.  EWH

[tony5320]

Thanks for your response. So I don't need HIV testing either?? What if I start a new relationship, should I be tested first?? Thanks

[Edward W Hook, MD]

No, there is no immediate need for HIV testing etiher.

You may qualify for periodic STD/HIV "screening (testing in the absence of symptoms) because you have had multiple partners.. After initial screening, as a matter of personal protection, we recommend annual testing for anyone who has had two or more sex partners in the past year (we consider this to be health maintenance- we also recommend you get your blood pressure and cholesterol checked regularly).  EWH