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Freaking out over rash
I know you would say my exposure was no risk from reading other posts, and I was willing to let it go, but now that I've developed a rash just over 2 1/2 weeks post possible exposure I'm really losing it!
My possible exposure was about 2 1/2 weeks ago when I was out in front of my house and a guy introduced himself to me and shook my hand. Afterwards I checked my hand for any cuts and sure enough on the back of my hand where the guy's thumb pressed, I have three small cuts. I THINK they may've been from about an hour before when my dog scratched me but I couldn't say for sure - they looked pretty fresh and were red. I remember the hand shake was very hard too. I put sanitiser on my hands right away and didn't really look to see if there was any blood on me that could've been from the guy.
Yesterday I developed a rash, which is not itchy, on my chest. I was hoping it was due to the insect repellent I'd sprayed on that morning. The chemist gave me a cream and the rash hasn't gotten any worse but not mush better. I was willing to put it down to a reaction to the repellent yesterday, but this morning I have another section of rash sort of on the front of my shoulder where I hadn't sprayed any repellent.
I know my risk was very low but can I be 100% certain it was a NO RISK? I'm just really freaking out about this rash that is NOT itching and is on my torso, which fits in with ARS, and the fact that the timeline matches up at just over 2 1/2 weeks. I know you guys hate questions about symptoms but my holidays have been ruined by this and I am going insane with fear. Can anyone please tell me if I can 100% put this down to not being an HIV infection from my incident as described above? Thanks. Lizzie and Teak, could you please respond? Thanks a lot.
My possible exposure was about 2 1/2 weeks ago when I was out in front of my house and a guy introduced himself to me and shook my hand. Afterwards I checked my hand for any cuts and sure enough on the back of my hand where the guy's thumb pressed, I have three small cuts. I THINK they may've been from about an hour before when my dog scratched me but I couldn't say for sure - they looked pretty fresh and were red. I remember the hand shake was very hard too. I put sanitiser on my hands right away and didn't really look to see if there was any blood on me that could've been from the guy.
Yesterday I developed a rash, which is not itchy, on my chest. I was hoping it was due to the insect repellent I'd sprayed on that morning. The chemist gave me a cream and the rash hasn't gotten any worse but not mush better. I was willing to put it down to a reaction to the repellent yesterday, but this morning I have another section of rash sort of on the front of my shoulder where I hadn't sprayed any repellent.
I know my risk was very low but can I be 100% certain it was a NO RISK? I'm just really freaking out about this rash that is NOT itching and is on my torso, which fits in with ARS, and the fact that the timeline matches up at just over 2 1/2 weeks. I know you guys hate questions about symptoms but my holidays have been ruined by this and I am going insane with fear. Can anyone please tell me if I can 100% put this down to not being an HIV infection from my incident as described above? Thanks. Lizzie and Teak, could you please respond? Thanks a lot.
Thanks Teak, for the quick response. A couple of words from you can provide a lot of comfort. But just to check, even if some of this guy's blood had gotton into my fresh cut/s with strong pressure applied from the handshake, still absolutely NO RISK? I know from this site that no-one's ever caught HIV that way, but if positive blood got into my cut couldn't it be a slight possibility? I know your time is precious and thank you again in advance.
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