Accidental penetration?

[rue291]

Doctors, here's my situation.

I am a 24 year old male. Yesterday I did frottage with a girl along her butt cheeks. Because the area was oiled, my penis head slipped and touched either the girl's vagina or anus. I'm not sure which, but I know it touched something because the girl jumped when it happened and told me to becareful where I'm poking. I am not sure if this grounds for penetration or not, seeing how slight it was.

Should I worry? Should I bother getting an HIV test or any STI tests? To be honest, I'm not that worried since I know frottage is no risk, but because of that slip I wanted to make sure.

Frottage is no risk, but did the experts who made the risk chart take into consideration my kind of scenario?

Thank you for your time.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

No, you should not be worried.  EWH

[rue291]

Doctor Hook, thank you so much for your help. Should I be at all concerned with my symptoms? Cough and runny nose. The only reason I mention it is because it's started two weeks after exposure. Is this ARS related or just a common cold? Are coughand running nose symptoms of ARS?

I'm very sorry for the constant questions, but I appreciate your patience. Thank you.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

I'm one of those peole who say if you'd penetrated her you would know.

Your risk, if any from this exposure is low.  EWH

[rue291]

Doctor,

Since my exposure, I've had the opportunity to talk to the girl I had frottage with again. I asked her if I penetrated her and she said no, only that I was getting too close to her anus and that's why she jumped. I hope that I can trust her.

We also talked about HIV, and she said the last time she tested she was negative. Though this was a few years back.

However, I still have concerns. Two weeks after the exposure I developed a cough and sniffles and a sore throat. I also have a low fever of 100.4 F. My brother's girlfriend also had a cold, but her symptoms were less severe than mine, and I'm thinking I caught a cold from her since after her symptoms started, a day later, my symptoms started. Plus, I hadn't slept in two days and the cold weather probably has made me more susceptible to colds; plus the fact that this is the height of the cold season. I've also read you and Dr. Handsfield say elsewhere on this forum that coughing and sniffles is not indicative of HIV ARS.

I am probably going to do an HIV test at the 12 week mark regardless. But I'm hoping this is only for peace of mind, and I've nothing to worry about.

I'm still a little worried. I keep thinking, but what if I did penetrate her, what if I did! Though everyone on the forum has said that if you did you wouldn't question it and you would know beyond a reasonable doubt. I'm hoping this is true.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Touching does not pose a risk.  Penetration does.  EWH

[rue291]

Thank you, doctor. I have one small follow-up question: I don't think I dipped, which is to say inserting my penis head into the vagina or rectum, but I most certainly touched or rubbed my penis head against either the vagina or rectum. Does this pose a risk?

Thanks again!

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to the Forum.  The question you ask can be answered by trying to ascertain if there was penetration or not.  This, in turn could be accomplished by asking your partner.  My guess is that there was no penetration but she will be able to give you a definitive answer.  

As for the issue of HIV risk, the starting point is whether or not your partner had HIV or not.  Do you know?  Did you ask her?  You should have.  Few  (less than 1 in 1000 and probably closer to 1 in 10,000) heterosexual women are infected with HIV.  In the unlikely circumstance that she was, as you point out, there is no risk of getting HIV from frottage.   If you penetrated her vagina and she was infected your risk is about 1 infection per 1000 exposures and if you penetrated her rectum the risk would be about 1 in 100.

Overall, my guess is that your risk for HIV from this exposure is very, very low and not something to worry about.  EWH