Worried for my child

[bottner11]

My main worry for writing this post is for my child, whom I am deathly afraid that I may infected him. The rest is my story. I have tested every month for the last 9 months for HIV, and other STD's after unprotected sex with a confirmed positive partner. All negative to 36 weeks out. I am only worried because I still have symptoms that started at 10 days after the exposure. The one the worries me is a rash on my upper torso that comes and goes still to this day. Not really a rash but an itchy felling. I am also worried because I have a 18 month son who was about 8 or 9 months arround the time of my exposure who I chewed food for. I didn't chew the food completely, just more of biting a piece of food off from my food and giving it to him. I have recently read that a mother had passed it to her child this way and am now freaking out. Am I 100% HIV free? Could I still pass it to him while showing negative at nine months? I can't keep thinking that I have endangered my child by my mistake. I just want to know that I can move on from this and know that my son and I are free from this disease. I am just confused because some sites say 3 months, some 6 months ater a confiremed partner. And my clinic said 1 year. I just need some clarification and another opinion. Thank you DR's.

[bottner11]

Thank you so much. I will move on and forget about this. Thanks again :)

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Welcome to the HIV forum.  I'll try to help.  I glanced at your post on the HIV community forum, where you described your exposure (sex with a known HIV positive person), and where you also were reassured by the knowledgeable forum moderators.

At an emotional level, your concern is understandable.  No parent wants to risk harm to his or her child.  However, you have no worries here; you definitely are "100% HIV free".  If HIV antibody testing is done sufficiently long after the last possible exposure -- which with modern HIV tests is usually 6-8 weeks and never longer than 3 months -- the test results tell the truth, and those results always outweigh symptoms, exposure history, or any other factor.

Most information sources that suggest longer intervals for testing are not scientifically based.  But even among scientifically reliable sources, some with hyper-conservative philosophies say it can take up to 6 months.  That might have been the case with older tests, but it simply is not true for the HIV antibody tests currently in use throughout the world for over 10 years.  And your own clinic is being conservative beyond reason.  The only effect of saying it can take a year is to increase patients' axieties, as it has done with you.  They are simply wrong and you can tell them I said so.

If you remain concerned about your child's health (or children -- I'm not sure whether you are referring to one or two kids), talk with the pediatrician.  Be honest about your own exposure history so s/he understands your concern.  Most likely s/he will agree to test the kids -- not because there is any real risk (there is not), but if it might help you get beyond your fears about it.

Bottom line:  Simply no HIV worries here.

Best wishes to you and your family--  HHH, MD