starting to get scared

[worryinglikecrazy]

Hi Doctor, I'm a 23 year old male who got really worried from the last 3 sexual encounters I had. 2 of them I used a condom but I was concerned before one of the women I picked up at a bar in Tokyo tried to get me to have sex with her unprotected which I did not. The last encounter I received oral unprotected. Everytime I've had sex I've used protection but I'm thinking about all my past sexual histories what if in the past the condom wasn't that effective? 2 of these women were sex workers that I've slept with. When should I take an HIV test and what kind? I'm really concerned is there anything I can take within a week that will give considerate results? They offer a rapid test in NYC where I am from which gives you results right away.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

The risk of acquiring HIV or other STDs is essentially zero for any particular encounter of vaginal sex with an intact condom, and the odds are you could continue your current lifestyle for your enitre life without catching HIV.  You probably would pick up HPV and maybe herpes somewhere along the line, and a theoretical but tiny chance of syphilis.  There would be essentially no risk for gonorrhea or chlamydia.



Having said that, risk accumulates with time and number of partners.  Although the overall risk remains very low, I recommend that people with your sort of sexual lifestyle have routine STD testing once a year, including testing for gonorrhea and chlamydia (by urine test) and blood tests for syphilis and HIV.  Herpes is sort of optional; some experts think that's a good idea routinely but others disagree.



So if it has been a year or more since you were tested for HIV (and the others), this would be a good time to do it.  But it has nothing to do with the particular, recent sexual encounters that you describe.  Therefore, it doesn't matter how long you wait.  (But if you are worried about any particular recent encounter, wait until 6-8 weeks after that event.)



Rapid testing is fine.  There's no particular need for rapid as opposed to regular, unless you are too nervous to wait for the results for a few days.  You can be highly confident the result will be negative.



Good luck--  HHH, MD

[WorkingMan]

I am no doctor but if you used a condom, and it didn't break, and you say you have no symptoms of any kind, there is nothing to worry about. Even if you had sex with one of these woman uprotected, the odds of HIV from a one time encounter are low. Good luck and stop worrying.

[worryinglikecrazy]

I forgot to mention - with the girl I picked up at the bar that tried to get me to put it in her unprotected - I got kind of freaked out in the middle of the encounter and pulled out and just started masturbating with the condom on - then the condom peeled off since I started getting soft and I continued masturbating without the condom on. Is there a risk from the possible vaginal fluid from the outside condom connecting with my penis from masturbating ?

[bigdaddy1992]

Just to give you some sort of reassurance, in the uk papers today there is a case of a " confirmed " ( which your partner is not )HIV+ person having repeated sex with an underage girl, She then got pregnant and neither her or the child was infected. Just thought i would add this story as her exposures were significantly higher than yours and she is ok.

[worryinglikecrazy]

May I ask how accurate is the HIV Proviral DNA after 4 weeks - labsafe says its 99.9% accurate? I'm just really anxious and want to get the most accurate results as quick as possible! - Can someone recommend a test within 2 weeks?

[WorkingMan]

Dude, relax, you're fine. Even if SHE WAS HIV POSITIVE, you're still fine. Stop worrying, we all have been there, but you're worrying about nothing.