unprotected vaginal intercourse

Hi! Thanks for all you do on this great forum!

About three months ago I had unprotected vaginal intercourse on one occasion with my ex-boyfriend. It was brief and he did not ejaculate. On another occasion after protected intercourse he did not withdraw immediately after climax and I believe some semen leaked from the condom. He is not bisexual or an injection drug user, although he has slept with quite a few women on our college campus (he claims he always uses protection, but that's clearly not true.) Anyway, two months later I had an HIV test at my yearly gyno exam and it came back negative, but my gyno says it's important to test at least three months after your last unprotected exposure. Can I trust this result or do I need to be tested again before my next yearly?

Thanks so much!

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Others have responded before me (below) with completely accurate answers.  Your risk for HIV was virtually zero; you really didn't need testing at all, except for peace of mind. Your gynecologist is wrong; a negative result 2 months after exposure is completely reliable.  (It's not your gynecologist's fault. Undoubtedly s/he is not an HIV expert and is accurately stateing what s/he has been told.  But almost all infected people have positive results within 6 weeks.)

Having mononucleosis does not delay or alter HIV testing results.

As others have already implied, I have 3 words of advice: 1) condoms, 2) condoms, and 3) condoms.

Best wishes--- HHH, MD

[skerdstraght68]

2 months is enough time.  You dont have HIV.

[skerdstraght68]

2 months is enough time.  You dont have HIV.

[nervygal]

Thanks much Skerd. This may be a dumb question, but here goes: I'll tack it on. Since the Doc has not yet responded, perhaps he can address this too. I had mono about six months ago. Could this affect the testing window, i.e. have done something to my immune system that makes HIV antibodies take longer to appear?

[westsider]

Dr. HHH will tell you that your possiblity of infection from the brief unprotected one time encounter will be very low risk.  Testing negative post-6 weeks is 99% or above, while 2 months is close to, if not, 100%. I too had the same experience a while back but with longer exposure. Look up my thread "concerns over unprotected vaginal intercourse" if you wish.   Even if semen leaked outside the condom after ejaculation, it would have leaked on the outer edge of the vagina which has been adressed on this website forum and many others where there is absolutely little if any risk.  And no, having Mono does not affect your HIV test in anyway, shape, or form no matter when you have it. I hope you find assurance in this as Skerd or myself can attest to that symptom surfing and borrowing trouble is a downward spiral, both physically and mentally.

[grbala]

Check out this post titled "some number I got from internet about HIV test time" in the STD forum.

Link: http://www.medhelp.org/perl6/STD/messages/764.html

By a standard 3rd genertaion antibody test, a following number is suggested:

anti-body detected one week after the exposure 22.6%
anti-body detected two weeks after the exposure 53.775%
anti-body detected three weeks after the exposure 84.1%;
anti-body detected four weeks after the exposure 98.4%
anti-body detected five weeks after the exposure 99.45%
anti-body detected six weeks after the exposure 99.994%
anti-body detected seven weeks after the exposure 99.99986%
anti-body detected eight weeks after the exposure 99.999999979%

Note: I tested negative using ELISA 4th generation test on the 35th day today after having exposed to the saliva of my HIV positive friend to my shaved neck with an open pimple.

[mpo131]

The doctor will tell you Mono, especially six months ago, most definately will not delay a positive result past two months.  Your are HIV negative!!  Use those condoms!!

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

While the general principles suggested by the quoted data are accurate, the figures themselves clearly are bogus. (I didn't think to comment on them quite so strongly in the original thread.)  They might come from some sort of mathematical model, but they are not based on real world data.  In order to determine that a test picks up 99.99999% of infections, it would be necessary to study millions of infected people precisely at, say, 8 weeks after exposure.  No way.

HHH, MD

[nervygal]

Thanks so much to all. You guys are really helpful and I'll be sure to be vigilant about condom use!

[scared569]

i have been married for 14 years i got drunk 8mths ago, met a business man, foolishly allowed him to my hotel room and we started to have sex - no condoms, after about 5 mins i came to my senses, no ejaculation happend, and penetration was only for about 5 mins, i have never done anything like this in the whole time i have been with my husband, and the guilt, shame and disgust has almost made me think of suicide, i have no idea on sex history of this gentleman i threw his business card away, the thing is i am now pregnant with my husbands baby, i have just found out i need a hiv test, i have never had any diseases that i know of, i have never told my husband, and now i am almost convinced i have hiv, believe me there have been no signs or anything, but i have also read there are no signs if you contract hiv, what are my risks of catching hiv, as instead of being so happy because i am pregnant, i am unhappy, terrified, i am finding it hard to sleep, and feel so completely devasted for my disgusting actions..
my mind is out of control and i literally play the phone call of the doctors telling me i have hiv, i go for my test this week, - please help me out with some information and your thoughts.. thanks so much ....
scared 569

[guiltygrl]

I have been with my boyfriend for over 3 years and a year and a half ago, I cheated on him. I literally let the guy inside of me for 3 minutes and he never ejaculated. I came to my senses and go out of there. He was not wearing a condom and  I am scared to death to get an HIV test. About 6 months ago I had to get a LEAP procedure b/c of HPV I contracted 8 years ago. I started freaking out everytime I read anything on the internet about HPV b/c it said you were HIV positive. I told my gyno about all of my reading b/c I was scared and she told me that I was not HIV positive but never properly tested me. I have spoken to the guy I cheated with and he is an active blood donor and is regulary tested for HIv and is always negative, but I know he has a promiscuous past and I still stay up at night worrying. I am literally losing my mind but I cannot work up the courage to get tested. I have tried so many times and I freak out crying. I know I feel incredibly guilt about cheating on my boyfriend so I feel that it would be fitting for me to have HIV. I also have Crohn's disease and was hospitalized about 3 weeks ago and all of my urine and blood tests came back fine, but does that mean they ruled out HIV? Help? I need someone to help me before I go crazy.