Thanks for your questions. I agree with your assessment of the risk of these exposures - most strippers/commercial sex workers do not have HIV. Further, the exposures you describe- giving and receiving oral sex (protected and unprotected) are not associated with risk for HIV. Neither Dr. Handsfield nor I am aware of persons who have clearly acquired HIV through oral sex. Similarly, condom protected sex is safe sex and does not put you at meaningful risk for HIV. Finally, the OraQuick tests are highly reliable and give excellent, reliable test results at any point more than 8 weeks following an exposure. Thus I would urge you to believe yesterday's test result and not worry further about HIV. I see no need for additional testing.
I hiope this comment is helpful to you. EWH
Thank you very much for the quick response. The fear of getting HIV was really starting to get to me and your response really helps. I was concerned that the test wasn't done at the 3 month mark and I was still in the window period. Thank you again!
I am a little concerned about the possibility of a false negative result. I saw that there have been questions surrounding the accuracy of the oral test and that got me worried. I have had dry mouth at night for a few months and have had a whitish tongue in the morning. I also have a sinus infection and have been on antibiotics for a while from my tonsillitis, surgery and now sinus infection. Can my anxiety over the test results and taking antibiotics be causing the dry mouth and white tongue? Should I retest or just move on and believe my 8 week negative result?
My advice is to believe your test results. The combination of anxiety and antibiotic effect on the bacteria normally present in the mouth are a far, far more reasonable explanation than the chance of a falsely negative test. The white tongue may be thrush, a fungal overgrowth which occurs commonly in persons taking antibiotics. EWH
A related discussion,
oraquick test at 9 weeks was started.