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Avatar universal

hiv exposure and risk

dear doctor,
thank you very much in advance for taking your time to read my question and evaluating the situation.

around a year ago i had unprotected sex with a white portugues female (mid 30s) resident in the suburbs of lisbon, portugal. this woman is a friend of a friend, divorced mother of a ca. 6y old child with a normal career (no drug user).
one lead to the other and in the heat of the night we had unprotected vaginal sex which lasted for 15-20min. we have not talked about her status and i never seen her again after this exposure. i am a 33y caucasian male, circumcised and have been tested frequently before this exposure.

having read many posts about the risk statistics etc on this site i have not been really worried.
then i started to develop light dandruff (white, very little grains) and seem not to manage to get it under control with normal dandruff shampoos etc. while googling dandruff i read that dandruff (but i assume heavy) can be a sign of hiv infection. then i started reading about scary high aids rates in portugal. especially as most new infections here come from hetero sexual encounters. since then i frequently have ars fear which i then can calm with intellectual arguments but emotionally the fear returns.

what is your opinion on this matter in regards to risk assessment knowing the given facts?

thanks in advance.


5 Responses
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300980 tn?1194929400
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Glad to help. You are in the clear.  Take care.  EWH
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
thanks for second answer doctor.
to take my lingering fear of me i went after your first answer to make a test and it came back negative.

thanks again for this great website !


Helpful - 0
300980 tn?1194929400
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
there is no medical reason for you to need further testing- I said that.  some of our clients choose to test repeatedly for their peace of mind.  In your case (like most) this is a waste of time, money and resources

Ned
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
dear doctor,

thank you very much for prompt reply.

from a risk assessment point of view do you think testing is necessary?
the other doctor on here mainly recommends testing in a virtually zero risk situation for peace of mind not for medical reasons.


Helpful - 0
300980 tn?1194929400
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Welcome to our Forum. I will try  to help.  The exposure that you describe was, as you already know from your research, low risk for acquisition of HIV.  Your partner was not a high risk partner and you only had a single exposure.  As for your symptoms, "dandruff" is sometimes caused by a common condition called seborrheic dermatitis which can be problematic for persons with advanced HIV. Even though seborrheic dermatitis/dandruff can be a problem for persons with HIV, the fact is that most people with dandruff/seborrheic dermatitis do not have HIV.  thus your dandruff is not something to worry about.

If you have lingering fears about HIV, the only way to be sure that you o not have HIV is to be tested.   There is no reason to fear testing.  Testing does not give a person HIV but it does give them the power to know what is going on and whether or not they have the infection.  Most tests are negative and if you were so unfortunate as to have HIV, the test would allow you to seek treatment sooner.  There is no reason to delay or avoid HIV testing.

I hope my comments are helpful. EWH
Helpful - 0

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