Should I get tested? Should I even worry?

[sostupid22]

Hello Dr.  Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this.

Let me tell you a little about me and my situation. I'm a 22 year old straight/bi curious male. Prior to my 'exposure' I have been tested and am clean of all STD's and HIV negative.

A couple night about I met up with a guy I've hooked up with twice (just to J/O, nothing more), but don't know very well personally.  Things got a little out of hand and I ended up performing oral on him 3 separate times for about a total of 2-4 minutes.  He did not ejaculate during the encounter so he obviously didn't in or around my mouth.  I don't believe there was any pre-ejaculate either, however I could be wrong.
Right after the encounter I was worried and asked him about his STD/HIV status.  He assured me he was drug/disease free and HIV negative and even said he had the test results to prove this.  The thing is that his test results are about 6 months old (from what he told me, I didn't see them as I asked all this on the phone). He says he works in healthcare (nurse or something along those lines) and claims that in the U.S. you have to be tested frequently to continue to work in that profession. Is that true?

Also, he had said in the past that he (being bisexual) does not participate in anal sex with men at all, and that he does not perform oral on men but he does receive. I'm not sure if this is true or not, and not even sure if it's relevant.

I know from the internet that oral sex is very rare for transmission but I was wondering if I should bother to get tested.  This is basically my only at risk activity. I'd like to hear your opinion on what you think my risk of getting infected was/is and if I should bother to test myself after this single event.

Thank you for your time and sorry the post was so long. I figured the more details the better.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Let's talk about your risk fisrt.  It is low.  there is no risk from mutual masturbation and the risk from oral sex is very, very low if there is any risk at all.  Some experts etimat that, IF your partner is infected, the risk of infection is less than 1 infection per 10,000 exposures and that estimate is probably on the high side.  A number of experts believe there is no risk for HIV at all from either giveing or receivng oral sex.  Even if there is statistical risk,m yours is very low, not only becua eof the averages but also becasue you r partner says he does not have infection and most peole do tell the truth, your exposure was brief, and your expsoure to potentially infectious matierials is minimal.  

Having said that, you then ask if you should be tested.  the answer to that is yes, not because of this exposure but because we recommend periodic STD "screening" (testing in the absence of symptoms) because you have had multiple partners over a period of less than a year.  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).  The more partners one has, the more frequently one should be tested.  Screening however is not a substitute for condom protected sex however - we emphatically encourage this as well.

Hope these comments are helpful to you.  EWH

[sostupid22]

Thanks for the quick response.  I actually was recently tested myself, a little less than a year ago.  Should I go ahead and get tested at the 4-5 week mark, or seeing as the test is within a year, wait it out (unless of course I have another at-risk encounter)?

Also, do you know if there is any truth to the claim that to work in healthcare that one much be tested regularly?

Sorry about the additional questions. Thank you.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

I am not aware of any rule that healthcare workers must be tested annually.

As for whther or not you need to be tested at this time, there is really no compelling medical reason to be tested.  If you need to be tested for your own peace of mind, that of course is another issue.  EWH