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Avatar universal

Advice please...

Hi Doctors,

This is both an STD and HIV query (which are connected) so guess it can be submitted to either forum? If I've submitted it incorrectly I will obviously resubmit.

I had protected vaginal sex and unprotected oral sex (on me but me not on her) 18 days ago with a girl I've known for a few months this is the only time we had sex.  She told me she got tested earlier this year and all was ok.

1. Oral sex was performed on me but not on her.  Presumably I won't have been at risk of throat STDs? As the oral sex on me was unprotected, I presume I am at risk from Chlamydia etc so should get tested?  (I am in a long standing relationship with someone else - first time unfaithful)
2.Vaginal sex was protected (no breaks etc) so I believe risk of catching HIV is virtually nil? I've seen statistics of catching HIV from a girl who is HIV+ of 1:5000 while using a condom (1:2000 without (which I find astoundingly high)) and presumably that "1" is statistically for a condom failing, so if it didn't break, the probability stats would be even higher wouldn't they?  Should I still get an HIV test?
3. 5 days after the encounter I developed an itchy rash under my armpit. Thought nothing of it until 14 days after the incident when I also developed a rash across my stomach and also on my neck. Rash looks like a heat rash. The armpit one has lessened considerably in redness since.  I appreciate "symptoms" are tricky to analyse but will the rash always/usually be associated with "flu-like" symptoms? I don't seem to have had a fever or felt unwell apart from a few minor ailments e.g some headaches, lack of appetite over the last couple of days which I'm putting down to increased anxiety but I can't get it out of my head that the rash is a symptom.  For those that show symptoms, will they always be flu like?

Thanks for your help with this.

Brook
4 Responses
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Avatar universal
Thanks very much for the responses.

Brook
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300980 tn?1194929400
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Sigh...........  the rash of early HIV typically occurs IN THE COMPANY OF OTHER FINDINGS 2-4 weeks following exposure.  When the rash occurs it does not come in "waves" appearing at one location and then another.  There is nothing in your description to raise concern that either of the rashes you describe might be a manifestation of HIV.  EWH
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Avatar universal
Thanks very much for the speedy response.

I don't think there is anything particularly unusual about this partner.  She seemed fairly particular about her hygiene and said she's been tested within the past 12 months although had had a couple of other partners since then.

I don't appear to have any signs of penile infection so I will take that as a good sign.

Regarding the query about the rash, normally I wouldn't worry too much about such a thing but I thought it was a bit of an odd thing to have and when I was looking around for a cause, came across it as an HIV symptom, thought new partner, recent event, etc.  The timing for the first appearance of the initial rash would be quick for seroconversion wouldn't it i.e. c.5 days? Two weeks after exposure seems to be quoted a lot, although I've seen references to 10 days and even less than that.  I appreciate you're saying this is unlikely anyway with the absence of other significant symptoms but I'd be interested to know.  I also guess that in terms of the second rash, it would be very unlikely that it wasn't related to the first one in some way despite the different locations?

Thanks a lot.

Brook
Helpful - 0
300980 tn?1194929400
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Welcome to our Forum. I'll address your questions here- no need to post the questions separately but thanks for asking.  

1.  STDs are spread through direct contact. Thus if you did not perform oral sex on your partner, you are not at risk for throat infection.  On the other hand, from receipt of oral sex, there is a small risk.  Perhaps fortunately, oral sex is an inefficient way to transmit STDs.  Of the bacterial STDs only gonorrhea and nongonococcal urethritis (NGU) are transmitted through oral sex; chlamydia is not and without an obvious sore or lesion on your partner’s mouth, the chances of syphilis and herpes is likewise tiny.   If you had gotten gonorrhea or NGU, by now you would have most likely developed symptoms of urethritis (penile infection).  Even if your partner had an STD (any STD and it is likely she did not), most exposures do not lead to infection.

2.  The figures you've become aware of are too high.  The chance that your partner has HIV is rather low unless there is something about her you have not mentioned. Here in the U.S. fewer than 1 in 10,000 heterosexual women has HIV.  If your partner did have HIV however, the risk of getting HIV from unprotected sex is less than 1 infection per 1000 sex acts.  With proper condom use, this risk drops another thousand-fold, to less than 1 in a million.  You do not need an HIV test related to the exposure you describe.

3.  Not everyone who gets HIV develops symptoms. When they do however, they typically develop the entire package of fever, muscles aches, diarrhea, an sore throat as well as a rash,  Give the nature of your exposure, I would not worry about these symptoms.

Hope these comments are helpful. EWH
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