acute hiv rash?

Hi,

try to be salient as possible...  approx 8 weeks ago had protected sex with CSW. Didn't think to much about HIV cause of being protected, However, 10 days afterwards, get 5 days worth of coughing, mucus, scratchy throat, 99.6 fever, then over with. concerned, but still not worried...

- 8 weeks later

A week ago i shaved my lower torso up to my chest area. Never done before. In additionto this, San diego has had really low temp prompting me to wear my exercise shorts and "wife-beater" undershirt underneath my work clothes, which are tight to begin with. (easy to change after work).. Probably for 4 to 5 days...Never did that either. Noticed itch in lower torso area and hotness around body. My office, cause of big windows, gets really hot despite outside temp and i could feel the "warmth" under the shirt, etc.

Problem:

this saturday, i started noticing red, sometimes itchy bums all over my body and upper thighs... Still persistant as i write this. I have worked out and sweated every day additionally at the gym and gone home to shower, still they persist. No other symptoms....

Now, i know prickly heat / miliaria exist, along with irritation from shaving, but it's also on my back, etc... So now i have been wondering if this may be something different considering my experience 8 weeks ago.... Maybe the condom wasn't so protective? I never did put water in it to check for leaks????  I know this sound probably dumb, but when half your body has red spots, sometimes itchy, mind starts wondering...

For IO, some of the spots look like little bug bites, some little red dots, and some look like a very minute whitehead type pimple...

Should i get tested??

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Welcome back to the forum.

Your symptoms sound like you caught a cold.  ARS doesn't cause cough or mucus, almost always does cause substantially higher fever than yours, and doesn't cause a rash of the sort you describe.  And the rash of ARS came on too late anyway; the rash of occurs at the same time as fever, sore throat, etc.  Finally, you had safe sex with someone who is statistically very unlikely to have HIV.

So no risk, nothing to suggest ARS, no need for testing, and it is safe for you to continue unprotected sex with any regular partner(s) you may have.  Of course you are free to be tested if you wish, if the negative result will further increase your confidence you don't have HIV.

Of course if the rash persists or you remain concerned about it, visit your doctor or a clinic and get it checked out.  But don't worry about HIV as the cause.

Finally, I'm going to suggest you try to mellow out about HIV.  From your various posts on this and the herpes forum, it is clear you always use safe sex and are at zero risk for HIV for all practical purposes.  It shouldn't be necessary to seek expert opinion every time you have a new exposure you are nervous about or symptoms of some garden variety infection.  Also, please note the MedHelp rule that allows a maximum of 2 questions every 6 months in the professionally moderated forums (see Terms and Conditions).

Regards--  HHH, MD

[scaredinsandiego760]

one quickie and i'll happily end the thread,

so 8 weeks is to far down the road for any type of HIV rash, and does the RASH always have other symptoms as well?

[scaredinsandiego760]

the cold and rash are two separate instances....

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

I could tell the were separate.  That's part of the evidence you don't have ARS.  If you did, they would have occurred together.  The rash never appears alone as the only ARS symptom, and ARS never appears as late as 8 weeks.

That will end this thread.  You have a no risk exposure and don't have HIV.  Believe it.