How worried should I be?

During a night of drinking on the town with the guys, I screwed up for the first time in fifteen years of marriage and had unprotected vaginal sex with an exotic dancer for 2-3 minutes. The dancer knew one of my buddies and assures him she is clean, but you know how that goes. It has been eight days since the incident with no signs of any STD. I plan on getting tested for STDs and HIV. I am extremely worried about getting HIV. When should I get tested for STDs and HIV and what are my chances that I am infected with HIV?

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Relax.  Read many other threads with the identical question and various versions of it.  Search the threads for "HIV transmission risk" and "time to positive HIV test".

Yes, I "know how that goes", but it's not the way you think. You provide strong evidence--not perfect, but very strong--that the dancer doesn't have HIV.  If she did, the odds you acquired it during a single episode of vaginal sex was no more than 1 in 2000 and probably much less, given the brevity of the event.  In my STD clinic, which has tested thousands of persons for HIV every year, we have never diagnosed HIV in a heterosexual male after a single episode of high risk vaginal sex.  Not once.

The likelihood of another STD, like chlamydia or gonorrhea, is higher, but still on the low side, and your lack of symptoms is reassuring.  The risk of herpes or syphilis is too low to warrant testing, unless you develop genital area sores in the next 2-3 weeks.

You can be tested any time for gonorrhea and chlamydia.  It only takes a urine specimen and testing is accurate within 2-3 days of getting infected.  You really don't need any further tests.  But if you want still further reassurance than this, have blood tests in about 6 weeks for syphilis and HIV.

Good luck--  HHH, MD

[krazyworried]

statistically speaking your chances are around 1/2000 for this one sexual encounter if your partner had hiv. However most likey your partner did not have hiv. and if it was only 2-3 mintues that also decreases the chances since alot of the virus is needed inorder to become infected. also female to male transmission is much more difficult from what i read on the internet and was told from doctors.

[Rob73!]

The Dr will tell you that the odds remain firmly in your favour, regarding HIV transmission.

I would suggest getting tested for all the common STI's as soon as possible, thoughu should if you have caught anything you would start to notice symptoms after the 14 day mark.

As for HIV testing, you should be able to get a reliable result about 28 days post exposure, with the AVERAGE time to produce antibodies is about 25 days. The Good Dr will tell you that an HIV test taken between 4-6 weeks will give you a near 100% accurate result.

IN the past the general opinion was to wait until the 12 week mark to get an accurate test result. However, more and more health authorites are now moving towards the 4 or 6 week "window period". This is due to advances in HIV testing.

Good luck. Sure you will be just fine!

[ode2med]

Does anyone have an idea of the accuracy of the oral rapid test after 30 days?  Thanks? Single episode vag sex 10 min!  Anxiety getting the bestof me. - meant thanks!

[iwontdoitagain]

be very careful..