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STDs  (Expert Forum)
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Does this look like acute HIV??
Answered by
University of Washington Seattle - WA
This forum is for questions and support regarding STD issues such as: Chlamydia, Crabs (pubic lice scabies), Gonorrhea, Hepatitis (viral), Herpes, HPV, Molluscum Contagiosum, PID, Rectal Infections, Syphilis, Trichomoniasis, Warts, Yeast Infection.All questions will be answered by H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D. or Edward W Hook, MD.

Does this look like acute HIV??

by IAmVeryWorried, Apr 07, 2007 12:00AM
My girlfriend was diagnosed with gonorrhea recently so we both got treated and tested for HIV just in case.  I am her first vaginal sex partner.  We get the results of the HIV tests back next week.

I hadn't noticed any symptoms of early/acute HIV until two minor things in the last 24 hours that have me worried:

1)  I got a feeling of nausea last evening that lasted about a total of two hours.  However, it started right after I ate some pizza with friends and then went away awhile later.

2)  Late last night I noticed what looked like scratches or something on my back.  However, the outside of the skin isn't damaged and there is no pain or itchiness.  I read that blotchy rashes can often be a symptom of early/acute HIV.  However, the weird thing is that this doesn't seem blotchy.  It is one thin horizontal line with two lines extending downward from each of its ends in a curving shape that meet perfectly together a few inches down.  It literally looks like that shape of a talon (like a dinosaur talon or something of the like).  My girlfriend (a nursing student) thought that maybe they were capillaries that were broken under the skin but the marks haven't "gone down" yet at all.  My mother (a nurse) says that it might be a rash.  

All the pictures I have seen about early HIV skin signs show something that looks more like a round or scattered splotch.

I've talked with most of my recent partners and most have been tested or are people I had sex with at one point before I got tested last time too(the results came back negative).

The only really unknown person is someone I pretty much just kissed and then received litereally maybe 3-4 seconds of oral sex from (other than that she used her hand).

Your professional pre test results opinion?  I also ordered a home quick test that should come in the mail in a day or two.

Thanks!

by H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D., Apr 07, 2007 12:00AM
You didn't read or ignored the instructions on this forum's home page: 'Some of the most common types of questions concern the risk of HIV or STD after a particular sexual exposure, and about symptoms that might or might not be due to HIV. If your question is along these lines, please visit the HIV Prevention and Safe Sex Forum.'  Therefore, only a brief reply.

There is nothing in your description that sound at all like HIV, and heterosexually transmitted HIV remains rare in most settings in industrialized countries, even in people and populations with gonorrhea.  I predict negative HIV test results.

HHH, MD

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