Sex with a sex worker

[Constantinople34]

Hi doctors,

Thanks in advance for answering my question. Last week I went to a massage place in Houston,TX.  While we were having sex, I realized that the condom broke all the way which left my penis exposed. When I told her that the condom  broke, she immediately brought a new one and we continued. I assume we had sex without a condom for about 2 to 3 minutes may be less.  I have not seen any blood on my penis. I asked her if she was clean or not, she said she is clean but you never know.  I have no symptoms of anything sofar.  Is there any way I can get HIV from my encounter or any other STDs such as HSV 2 , warts?

Regards,

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Your sex was unprotected even though the period in which there was no protection was brief.  Thus the answer to your question is that yes, you could have gotten HIV or another STD.  The next and equally important question is how likely is it that you got an STD or HIV and the answer is that your risk is very, very, very low.  Why? - because of the cummulative effect of multiple factors including:

1.  Chances are that she did not have any infection.  The prevalence of STDs in commercial sex workers in the US is less than 10% and HIV is even rarer.
2.  You had a single exposure.  Even when one has an infected partner, most single exposures do not lead to infection
3.  You were at least partially protected.

So, do you need testing and if so, what for?  Your risk is low and the likelyhood that you have infection is even lower.  On the other hand, on this site we routinely suggest to persons with new or multiple partners (this is where you qualify) that even in the absence of symptoms it is useful to get tested once a year for gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis and HIV, even if asymptomatic.  As for herpes, if no symptoms, your risk is low and testing would not necessarily clarify the issue, therefore I would not suggest it.

Hope thi sis helpful.  EWH