ARS symptoms?

[eric1032]

i already posted these questions in the free forum but i need a peace of mind so i am posting here as well.

about two weeks ago, i had protected oral from a stripper at a local strip club.  it lasted maybe about couple minutes.  before the act, she handed me a brand new condom so i know the condom itself is good.  

a week ago, i started to have recurring fever daily (99.5 to 102) in the afternoon around 2 pm and in the morning around 2 am.  the AM fever would make me sweat big time and then the fever goes away.  it's been about 8 days now and i am still experiencing the fever.  my pcp gave me motrin 600mg and Azithromycin.  if i take the motrin every 8 hours, it will suppress the fever, but if i miss a dosage, i get the fever back again.  yesteday, i also start getting some minor red rash on my forarm, not itchy.  my pcp thinks it's the side effects of the drugs i am taking.

i am totally paranoid now about the symptoms because these symptoms are indicative of ARS.  further, i have never had fever like this before.  

Should i get tested?  What's your assessment and recommendation.

thanks

[Edward W Hook, MD]

I'm sorry, on this Forum we try to limit our responses to issues relating to STDs and HIV Prevention.  Mono is a possible explanation for your symptoms but this is something that you  should be discussing with your doctor.  EWH

[eric1032]

Dr.  can you help me with a follow up question.  

Does my symptoms indicate mono?  i read on this site that early symptoms between mono and hiv are very similar.  

should i ask my pcp for a mono test?

thanks

[eric1032]

Thanks for your comment, doctor.

This afternoon i went to my pcp to see the result of blood test, nothing is wrong with me except the glucose is a bit high.  This week, my doctor has prescribed me pencillin which after taking it for 4 days, i am going to stop because i think that maybe what's causing the rash.  he also prescribed me azithromcyin, i finished my dosage.  Yet the fever just keep coming back.   Everytime i feel the temperature is going up, i take tylenol or advil, the fever is suppressed until the drug wears out.  this has gone on for 8 to 9 days now.

i am a rational person.  if i were to look from the outside in, i say i am pretty low-risk for any std.  i been monogamus for the past 7 years.  haven't gone to a CSW for more than 8 or 9 years.  the encounter that i had two weeks ago was really a first time in a long time and protection was used.  Having said that, i don't know why this feverish symptom persists.  It's starting to really freak me out now.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to the Forum.  he symptoms of the ARS are TOTALLY non-specific and overlap with the symptoms of common viral infections (colds, the flu, etc).  In addition, because they are so non-specific, the symptoms of ARS must be considered in the context of the risk of infection,  In your case, your exposure was no risk for HIV.  The quoted figure for HIV risk, if one has UNPROTECTED oral sex with an infected partner is less than 1 in 10,000 and, in my estimation that is too high. Some experts state there is no risk at all from oral sex.  Neither of us on this site have ever seen or reading the medical literature of a convincing instance in which HIV was passed by oral sex.  Your oral sex was condom protected and thus even lower risk, if such a thing is possible.  

Thus you are in the situation that while your symptoms have some (but not even most) of the characteristics of the ARS, they are almost certainly due to  something else, most likely some other, more typical, non-STD virus infection.  When this has been studied in the US, less than 1% of persons seeking medical care for "ARS symptoms" are found to have HIV, the remainder having symptoms due to other processes.

Bottom line, you are not at any risk for HIV from the exposure you describe, your symptoms do not fulfill the description of the ARS and you can be confident that you did not get HIV from the exposure you describe.  You have no reason to worry and do not need testing.  EWH