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High Risk behavior and worried about ARS
On Feb 3rd, I engaged in intercourse with a high-risk individual (from Sub-Saharan Africa) In China. She claims she came to China 3 months prior which means she would have had to took a blood test for HIV to enter the country in the first place, but in 3 months, anything can happen.
We went through two condoms, and I got extremely tired and I blanked out for a moment. I tried to enter her again and she stopped me saying I wasn't wearing a condom anymore. I am unsure if I entered her or not without a condom, but I suppose I can take some solace from the fact she tried to stop me. We finished by naked grinding. She also expelled a lot of vaginal fluid. Question one is---How risky is this.
Flash forward to about 6 (Feb 9th ) days later, I started to sneeze and get a stuffy nose. The next day, I felt pretty terrible. The weekend and the following days saw a slow recovery, but around Feb 17th or 18th, I started to feel really sick. That whole week I started to develop a cough and spit up yellow flem. My nasal mucus was/is yellow as well. I also went from a low fever to a high fever of 101-102 and a somewhat sore throat. I went to the hospital last night and the Chinese doctor told me that my cold progressed into another infection and my throat and lungs caught a bacterial infection and that the infection could also cause my fever that's making me feel terrible. As far as I know, I havent noticed a rash. I'm unsure exactly what one looks like but from what I've been told it's not really something you can miss.
So does this sound like ARS? Or do I happen to be really unlucky (or...lucky?) and really did happen to catch a bad cold that then helped me catch a bacterial infection?
We went through two condoms, and I got extremely tired and I blanked out for a moment. I tried to enter her again and she stopped me saying I wasn't wearing a condom anymore. I am unsure if I entered her or not without a condom, but I suppose I can take some solace from the fact she tried to stop me. We finished by naked grinding. She also expelled a lot of vaginal fluid. Question one is---How risky is this.
Flash forward to about 6 (Feb 9th ) days later, I started to sneeze and get a stuffy nose. The next day, I felt pretty terrible. The weekend and the following days saw a slow recovery, but around Feb 17th or 18th, I started to feel really sick. That whole week I started to develop a cough and spit up yellow flem. My nasal mucus was/is yellow as well. I also went from a low fever to a high fever of 101-102 and a somewhat sore throat. I went to the hospital last night and the Chinese doctor told me that my cold progressed into another infection and my throat and lungs caught a bacterial infection and that the infection could also cause my fever that's making me feel terrible. As far as I know, I havent noticed a rash. I'm unsure exactly what one looks like but from what I've been told it's not really something you can miss.
So does this sound like ARS? Or do I happen to be really unlucky (or...lucky?) and really did happen to catch a bad cold that then helped me catch a bacterial infection?
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Welcome to the forum and thanks for your question. You should find my comments reassuring.
First, your description of your partner has some internal illogic: "high risk" for HIV, but HIV negative within the last 3 months. The negative test result suggests she was a low-risk partner, as far as you are concerned. Very few Chinese men have HIV, so the chance she has been exposed and infected in the last 3 months is low. Further, it sounds like your partner consistently asks her partners to use condoms, lowering her risk even more.
Second, you had mostly protected sex. Even with complete intercourse (several minutes), without a condom, the average female to male transmission risk is around 1 in 2,000. Your risk would be even lower, given the brevity of the unprotected exposure, if any occurred at all.
Third, despite what you think you have learned (probably by online searching), your symptoms are not those of ARS, which does not cause sneezing, nasal congestion, or cough. If you caught anything from your partner, it was a common cold, nothing more than that. Colds can indeed be complicated by superimposed bacterial infections like bronchitis or even pneumonia, with substantial fever, and you may have had one of these -- but even this does not hint at HIV. Most likely you were told something like this by the doctor who examined you.
In other words, your concluding paragraph is correct: almost certainly that is exactly what happened.
If you remain concerned about HIV, feel free to have an HIV test in a few weeks. But in the meantime, I really wouldn't be worried. (If I were in your situation, I would continue unprotected sex with my wife, with absolutely no fear of giving her HIV.)
I hope this has helped. Best wishes-- HHH, MD
First, your description of your partner has some internal illogic: "high risk" for HIV, but HIV negative within the last 3 months. The negative test result suggests she was a low-risk partner, as far as you are concerned. Very few Chinese men have HIV, so the chance she has been exposed and infected in the last 3 months is low. Further, it sounds like your partner consistently asks her partners to use condoms, lowering her risk even more.
Second, you had mostly protected sex. Even with complete intercourse (several minutes), without a condom, the average female to male transmission risk is around 1 in 2,000. Your risk would be even lower, given the brevity of the unprotected exposure, if any occurred at all.
Third, despite what you think you have learned (probably by online searching), your symptoms are not those of ARS, which does not cause sneezing, nasal congestion, or cough. If you caught anything from your partner, it was a common cold, nothing more than that. Colds can indeed be complicated by superimposed bacterial infections like bronchitis or even pneumonia, with substantial fever, and you may have had one of these -- but even this does not hint at HIV. Most likely you were told something like this by the doctor who examined you.
In other words, your concluding paragraph is correct: almost certainly that is exactly what happened.
If you remain concerned about HIV, feel free to have an HIV test in a few weeks. But in the meantime, I really wouldn't be worried. (If I were in your situation, I would continue unprotected sex with my wife, with absolutely no fear of giving her HIV.)
I hope this has helped. Best wishes-- HHH, MD
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
OK, this is good news. It wasn't clear before now that you are improving in general. As long as that's the case, all is well. However, you should follow up with your doctors.
But none of this has anything to do with HIV, which is the only topic for this forum. So that will wind up this thread; I won't have any further comments or advice. Take care.
But none of this has anything to do with HIV, which is the only topic for this forum. So that will wind up this thread; I won't have any further comments or advice. Take care.
The doctors here have put me on Cefuroxime through an IV drip for 3 days. I have just finished my 2nd day. My fever hovers around 100, a dramatic improvement. I still cough up flem once in a while and the congestion is still there with less yellowing of the mucus,. The sore throat remains although also less intense. I suppose I'll see how i feel after I complete the 3rd day's worth of IV antibiotics.
To be clear, I had not gone to the doctors until the night of the 19th, well after I had started feeling ill. I had not started my IV drip until yesterday afternoon. There has been a significant improvement in terms of fever dropping nearly 3 degrees and some symptoms starting to decrease in intensity. Still, I'm not recovered and I've a day left with the antibiotics.
To be clear, I had not gone to the doctors until the night of the 19th, well after I had started feeling ill. I had not started my IV drip until yesterday afternoon. There has been a significant improvement in terms of fever dropping nearly 3 degrees and some symptoms starting to decrease in intensity. Still, I'm not recovered and I've a day left with the antibiotics.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
The only thing that night sweats indicate is fever; as you seem to know, they occur when the fever breaks (i.e. rapid fall in body temperature) during the night. They are no more evidence of HIV than fever itself, or any of the innumerable symptoms that humans experience when they have infections.
Leaving HIV aside, if you continue to have fever (with or without sweats) more than another day or two, you should return to the doctor treating you. I'm still not concerned about HIV, only that I would have expected your bronchitis, pneumonia, etc to be improving by now. Perhaps a change of antibiotics will be a consideration.
Leaving HIV aside, if you continue to have fever (with or without sweats) more than another day or two, you should return to the doctor treating you. I'm still not concerned about HIV, only that I would have expected your bronchitis, pneumonia, etc to be improving by now. Perhaps a change of antibiotics will be a consideration.
This will be my last comment on the subject, because if I don't stop myself, I can go on forever. I woke up this morning with night sweats, although I took Tylenol the evening before because my fever got even higher. My fever has dropped from near 103 to about 99.8 and if I am correct, I woke up sweating because my fever broke. Knowing that night sweats are also a symptom of ARS, but knowing I also likely have a bacterial infection, I assume my night sweat was from Acetaminophen taken to help my fever, and your previous comments hold, yes?
Thank you doctor. I was worried because my fever stayed high for a few days, and I had night sweats one or twice, plus the bad sore throat, of course. I have read so many things about ARS, plus my unfortunately timed sickness that I got nervous. I realize now that my combination of symptoms point towards a bacterial infection rather than ARS. I just wanted to hear the opinion of an expert. Thank you very much!
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