Sex with female swedish stripper

Dear Dr,

I had protected vaginal sex with a swedish female stripper in Sweden, but the condom broke and I was exposed 1-2 min. I'm really worried about my exposure towards HIV and other STD:s. Today, 4 weeks after exposure, I went to get a full STD screening and a HIV test. Though I've read a couple of postings, answered by either of you, I'm still freaking out..

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Welcome to the forum.

My understanding is that heterosexually transmitted HIV is rare in Sweden (and Scandinavia in general), except in some immigrant populations.  My guess is that few Swedish strippers are infected.  And when a woman has HIV, the average transmission risk for a single episode of unprotected vaginal sex is around 1 in 2,000 -- equivalent to daily sex with infected women for 5 years before most men would be infected.

So we can pretty much dismiss any risk of HIV in this situation.  The risk of other STDs is higher, but still on the low side for a single exposure, and your apparent lack of symptoms like urethral discharge or penile sores suggests (but doesn't prove) you weren't infected.

For all these reasons, you should be relaxed as you wait for your HIV and other tests results.  Probably they all will be negative -- as you probably were told by the doctor or clinic where you were tested.  Feel free to let me know the results.

Regards--  HHH, MD