Aa
Really Nervous
Dear Doctors,
I have three possible exposures to HIV and they have been eating away at me for a while and I'm hoping that you can assess my risk and whether I need testing (all were over 8 weeks ago).
1. Unprotected oral and vaginal sex with a white female with whom I had a previous relationship and have no reason to suspect as having HIV and she told me she was clean.
2. Unprotected oral and vaginal sex with Asian American with whom I had a previous relationship and who told me she was clean and I have no real reason not to believe her. However, she has spent a significant amount of time in Bhutan and I know that she was ill there and spent time in a hospital.
3. Protected oral and vaginal sex with an white escort in NYC. The condom was on all the time during oral and vaginal sex and she told me that she was clean.
As far as symptoms go, I have experienced intermittent diarrhea (but no consistent diarrhea) off and on, I get night sweats, I have experienced some rashes that itch a little bit around my stomach and hips which went away and my mouth has a couple of very small discolorations.
Can you please assess my risk and tell me whether it is medically necessary to get tested. Thank you very much.
I have three possible exposures to HIV and they have been eating away at me for a while and I'm hoping that you can assess my risk and whether I need testing (all were over 8 weeks ago).
1. Unprotected oral and vaginal sex with a white female with whom I had a previous relationship and have no reason to suspect as having HIV and she told me she was clean.
2. Unprotected oral and vaginal sex with Asian American with whom I had a previous relationship and who told me she was clean and I have no real reason not to believe her. However, she has spent a significant amount of time in Bhutan and I know that she was ill there and spent time in a hospital.
3. Protected oral and vaginal sex with an white escort in NYC. The condom was on all the time during oral and vaginal sex and she told me that she was clean.
As far as symptoms go, I have experienced intermittent diarrhea (but no consistent diarrhea) off and on, I get night sweats, I have experienced some rashes that itch a little bit around my stomach and hips which went away and my mouth has a couple of very small discolorations.
Can you please assess my risk and tell me whether it is medically necessary to get tested. Thank you very much.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Welcome to the forum. But if you had read and heeded the advice in the Disclaimer message, you could easily have found the answers you seek. Essentially identical questions are asked an average of 2-3 times every day; simple scanning of the forum would have made it clear that:
* Sexually active women in the US, including escorts, rarely have HIV -- probably an average of 1 chance in 1,000.
* When a woman has HIV, the transmission risk by unprotected vaginal sex is about once for every 2,000 exposures.
* Oral sex is safe -- some experts believe HIV is never transmitted from an infected oral partner by oral sex.
* Condoms work; you cannot get HIV through sex with a condom that does not break.
* Symptoms never help determine whether or not someone has HIV, since even when symptoms are typical for HIV, usually other, more common things are the cause.
As for your specific situation, the chance your partner from Bhutan has HIV probably is low. Your symptoms are not typical for HIV. From a risk assessment perspective, you don't need HIV testing. However, since you are nervous enough to ask the question, you should be tested to ease your mind. You can expect a negative result. Feel free to return with a comment to report your test result if you decide to do it.
Regards-- HHH, MD
* Sexually active women in the US, including escorts, rarely have HIV -- probably an average of 1 chance in 1,000.
* When a woman has HIV, the transmission risk by unprotected vaginal sex is about once for every 2,000 exposures.
* Oral sex is safe -- some experts believe HIV is never transmitted from an infected oral partner by oral sex.
* Condoms work; you cannot get HIV through sex with a condom that does not break.
* Symptoms never help determine whether or not someone has HIV, since even when symptoms are typical for HIV, usually other, more common things are the cause.
As for your specific situation, the chance your partner from Bhutan has HIV probably is low. Your symptoms are not typical for HIV. From a risk assessment perspective, you don't need HIV testing. However, since you are nervous enough to ask the question, you should be tested to ease your mind. You can expect a negative result. Feel free to return with a comment to report your test result if you decide to do it.
Regards-- HHH, MD
As a follow up to #3, after sex, the condom did not appear to have been compromised in any way.
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