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HIV Prevention (Expert Forum)
please help Dr HHH!!!
Answered by
Edward W Hook, MD - HIV Prevention, stds
This forum is limited to prevention of HIV and to safe sex in general. If you believe you might have been exposed to HIV and want help to judge your risk, would like advice about HIV testing, or have questions about the effectiveness of condoms or the risks associated with specific sexual practices, this is the site for you.
IMPORTANT
No questions will be accepted on the treatment of HIV/AIDS or its complications, viral load, and similar topics. If you have questions about a specific STD other than HIV/AIDS, please visit the STD Forum. Questions that do not pertain to the above topics will be removed from the forum.
If you have not done so, please review other threads in our archives for questions similar to yours and Dr. Handsfield's replies. Questions that duplicate other frequent ones, for which abundant replies exist, and that have little educational value for other forum users, will be DELETED WITHOUT RESPONSE. YOUR PAYMENT WILL NOT BE REFUNDED. The most common examples of such questions are those about low risk exposures to HIV, such as oral sex, condom- protected intercourse hand-to-genital exposure, and nonsexual contact with possibly infected blood or body fluids as well as symptoms of early HIV infection.
No questions will be accepted on the treatment of HIV/AIDS or its complications, viral load, and similar topics. If you have questions about a specific STD other than HIV/AIDS, please visit the STD Forum. Questions that do not pertain to the above topics will be removed from the forum.
If you have not done so, please review other threads in our archives for questions similar to yours and Dr. Handsfield's replies. Questions that duplicate other frequent ones, for which abundant replies exist, and that have little educational value for other forum users, will be DELETED WITHOUT RESPONSE. YOUR PAYMENT WILL NOT BE REFUNDED. The most common examples of such questions are those about low risk exposures to HIV, such as oral sex, condom- protected intercourse hand-to-genital exposure, and nonsexual contact with possibly infected blood or body fluids as well as symptoms of early HIV infection.
please help Dr HHH!!!
by scaredshipless, May 09, 2008 10:34AM
hi doc and thanks in advance...ill try to br brief.
49 days ago i performed protected vaginal...recieved proteced oral and performed unprotected oral on an asain csw in a massage parlor in the usa. i have since tested neg for hiv at day 21, 35, 45, and yesterday at day 48. so thats all the way out to seven weeks!! i have had major anxiety over the ordeal and i have a few questions if i may.
one of the more powerful replies ive read from u in these forums is when u calculated the odds of infection for someone.
assuming my csw was hiv postive 10% x 1 in 10000 (risk for performing cunnilingus) x 98 -99% reliability of 7 week test..
1. what do you think my odds for infection break down too? i suck at math!!
2. what are the odds that ars can start at 7 weeks....ive been taking my temp for 3 straight weeks...and am driving myself crazy?
3. is there any need to retest at 3 months? ( what would you tell someone in your clinic?)
thnks....i admit to a little testing overkill here....and im sure im worrying to much...but to see you adress my specific questions will go a long way to allowing me to put this in the past once and forall....thanks in advance....scaredshipless
49 days ago i performed protected vaginal...recieved proteced oral and performed unprotected oral on an asain csw in a massage parlor in the usa. i have since tested neg for hiv at day 21, 35, 45, and yesterday at day 48. so thats all the way out to seven weeks!! i have had major anxiety over the ordeal and i have a few questions if i may.
one of the more powerful replies ive read from u in these forums is when u calculated the odds of infection for someone.
assuming my csw was hiv postive 10% x 1 in 10000 (risk for performing cunnilingus) x 98 -99% reliability of 7 week test..
1. what do you think my odds for infection break down too? i suck at math!!
2. what are the odds that ars can start at 7 weeks....ive been taking my temp for 3 straight weeks...and am driving myself crazy?
3. is there any need to retest at 3 months? ( what would you tell someone in your clinic?)
thnks....i admit to a little testing overkill here....and im sure im worrying to much...but to see you adress my specific questions will go a long way to allowing me to put this in the past once and forall....thanks in advance....scaredshipless
Doctor's Answer
by Edward W Hook, MD, May 09, 2008 03:17PM
, May 09, 2008 03:17PM
As best I can tell, you are asking me to do the math for you. Here goes: If she is positive your chance of getting HIV is less than 1 in 10,000 (0.0001). Then you were tested at a time when 89% or more of tests would be positive - the leaves the chance that you are going to have a positive test, if you are infected as 0.02), 0.02 X 0.0001 is 0.000002 or 2 out of a million. You are more likely to get hit b lightning. Stop worrying.
As for ARS, 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.
You do not need to re-test in three months but you do need to stop worrying and get on with your life. I hope my comments help you to do that. EWH
As for ARS, 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.
You do not need to re-test in three months but you do need to stop worrying and get on with your life. I hope my comments help you to do that. EWH
Post Comment
one more question adn then im outa here!
1. that 2 out of a million quote..that assumes that she was infact positive correct?
so if we calc the odds of .000002 x at most a 10% chance that the csw was hiv+ then all of a sudden my odds of not being infected skyrocket
.000002 x .10 =.0000002 or 1 in 5 million...do u agree?
thanks and have a nice day
You are also correct that those numbers were all of she was HIV infected and, as you point out, the likelyhood of that being the case is low, certainly less than 10% which would make the number less than 1 in 5 million. EWH
thanks and no more from me like i promised
as i have said... i had a neg 48 day test..(obviously 1 day short of seven weeks)...now at day 52 i have a really bad sore throat and i very minor headache that has been going on for a couple of days but no other measureable "symptoms", ie fever etc.
1. is it at all plausible, that despite my neg 7 week test....ars may be starting?