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Qustion Concerning Hiv

Hello,

At what stage does Oral Hairy Lekoplacia (OHL) develop in someone with HIV. Can someone get this without having any other HIV symptoms. The reason I ask is because I had one encounter with unprotected sex with a female 3 years ago and I have this coating on the side of my tongue that looks like OHL. I am scared that I caught HIV one a one night stand. Please Help
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Avatar universal
Thank you i will schedule a test this week.
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239123 tn?1267647614
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Oral hairy leukoplakia is a sign of overt AIDS, i.e. advanced HIV infection, typically not appearing until someone has been infected for several years.  Almost everybody with OHL is obviously ill with numerous symptoms and most have had other obvious opportunistic diseases, like pneumocystis pneumonia, Kaposi sarcoma, etc.

Most self-diagnosed OHL is something else.  Coated tongue is normal in everybody from time to time, or can occur with various minor viral infections and probably even variations in diet.  And even if you have real OHL, it is not something that necessarily means HIV.  There are other causes.

In addition, assuming you live in the US or other western industrialized country, you describe a sexual lifestyle that makes HIV infection extremely unlikely, almost impossible.

Since you are worried, see your doctor about your mouth symptoms and just have an HIV test.  It will be negative.  In the meantime, don't worry about HIV.

Regards--  HHH, MD
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