Need your Opinion pleae

[worfmg]

I was last tested for HIV and HepB/C in end of October 2007, with no sex atleast 5 and 1/2 weeks prior to testing. Considered the neg. results final I moved on. Was really stupid to have had unprotected vaginal sex with a sex worker in November 07. This was before I met my girl friend. We have been together now since December 2007. In February my girlfriend came down with a cold. The cough (mostly dry) that came with it persisted for over a month. No fevers or anything else just the cough. The doctor advised that the cough was due to allergies season. She got better after the prescribed medication (no antibiotics). A week ago my girlfriend started having pain around the ear. Saw the doctor again and he found nothing wrong with the ear but that she had strained muscles at the back of the ear, and had tender nodes in the neck on right side only and that the right tonsil was a bit swollen. She had also developed fever (for the fist time) on the day of the visit to the doctor. The doctor gave ibuprofen and vit C tablets. Same night the fever went as high as 105 F. After the first night of such high fever, she has not had any fever but the pain in the rightside  of the throat is still there. The node on the right side is also hard but not swollen to the extent that is visible just by looking at it.

May I request your opinion please:

1 - Fever lasted for one night only but could it be because the ibuprofen had been started (only one tablet at night and the fever was gne by morning) ? Also, is it true that fevers as an indication of an acute HIV onset do not go this high?

2 - Generally the nodes swell all over the body and not just one place. Could the slightly hardened node on only the right side of the neck, be considerd as a symptom for an aute HIV onset?

I myself have been fine throughout but plan on getting tested. Apologies for a long post but appreciate your opinion please. Thank you and God Bless

[Edward W Hook, MD]

As you point out, you have posted on the wrong site.   Questions about HIV belong on the HIV prevention site.  I will do my best to answer your questions with this reply but, if you have additional questions or follow-up they must be on the HIV Prevention site.  Sorry.

I will not go into your questions one by one as they all really relate to the question of whether your GF has the ARS or not and thus, indirectly, whether or not you might have HIV.  As far as your HIV risk is concerned, You had a single exposure to a commercial sex worker (CSW).  Your chances of having gotten HIV from this exposure are extraordinarily low.  Here's why:

1,  Chances are, your partner did not have HIV.  Most CSWs do not.
2.  Your chance of getting HIV, if she was infected is less than one in 1000 per exposure.

Of course the only way to know for sure is to get HIV tested and this is what you need to do, not becasue you are at high risk but to put your mind at rest.  I would be beside myself if you turned out to have HIV from the single exposure you describe.

As far as your GF's symptoms, you have seemed to missed our repeated statements that the symptoms of the ARS are TOTALLY non-specific and when people experience "ARS symptoms" they are much more likely to have something else, usually some other, more typical virus infection.  When this has been studied in the US, less than 1% of persons seeking medical care for "ARS symptoms" are found to have HIV, the remainder having symptoms due to other processes.  In addition, it is also important to realize that many person who acquire HIV do not experience the ARS.  For a person to try to judge their HIV risk based on "ARS symptoms" is a waste of time.

Bottom line, you risk is tiny.  Get yourself tested, get this concern behind you and stop worrying.  EWH

[worfmg]

Profuse apologies as I have just realized that I may have posted the question to a wrong forum. May I still please request for your reply