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HIV Risk and ARS symptoms
Dr.
I had sex with a gay man who I later learned has done gay porn, but no longer does porn, and I also learned that he escorts as well. I contacted him and he said that he is negative and plans to stay that way. Does his activities pose an even greater risk?
This was my first gay experience. There was a lot of heavy kissing, mutual rimming and unprotected oral (both giving and receiving). I topped for about a minute with a condom and he tried topping me with a condom, but it hurt too much so we stopped. He also fingered me, I am concerned if there was any precum on his finger. My concern is that I brushed my teeth before I met him and afterwards, does that pose a risk? I am not sure if there was precum during oral, there was no ejaculation during intercourse or oral.
On about day 3 after the encounter, I developed diarrhea that lasted for about a week, then recurred 2 weeks later. My doctor prescribed cipro. I then developed a white tongue, it looks like bacteria towards the back and my doctor said it was not thrush. My doctor said that it was most likely a lengthening of my tongue pappillae. I am concerned that it may be oral hairy leukoplakia, because my white tongue will not brush off, and it looks like I am developing a small white patch on the side of my tongue. I have slightly swollen lymph nodes and a slightly sore throat that wont go away, it makes me feel like gagging. I havent had any significant fever or more classic ARS symptoms. How likely is it to develop OHL during ARS?
I took a 4 week Elisa (negative) and a 8 week oraquick advance rapid test, mouthswab (negative). Are these tests a good indication of my status, eventhough I still have a white tongue? What is the likelihood of a 8 week test turning positive at 13 weeks? Is an Elisa test better than an oraquick test? The clinic said I have to test till 6 months for conclusive result, is that correct?
I had sex with a gay man who I later learned has done gay porn, but no longer does porn, and I also learned that he escorts as well. I contacted him and he said that he is negative and plans to stay that way. Does his activities pose an even greater risk?
This was my first gay experience. There was a lot of heavy kissing, mutual rimming and unprotected oral (both giving and receiving). I topped for about a minute with a condom and he tried topping me with a condom, but it hurt too much so we stopped. He also fingered me, I am concerned if there was any precum on his finger. My concern is that I brushed my teeth before I met him and afterwards, does that pose a risk? I am not sure if there was precum during oral, there was no ejaculation during intercourse or oral.
On about day 3 after the encounter, I developed diarrhea that lasted for about a week, then recurred 2 weeks later. My doctor prescribed cipro. I then developed a white tongue, it looks like bacteria towards the back and my doctor said it was not thrush. My doctor said that it was most likely a lengthening of my tongue pappillae. I am concerned that it may be oral hairy leukoplakia, because my white tongue will not brush off, and it looks like I am developing a small white patch on the side of my tongue. I have slightly swollen lymph nodes and a slightly sore throat that wont go away, it makes me feel like gagging. I havent had any significant fever or more classic ARS symptoms. How likely is it to develop OHL during ARS?
I took a 4 week Elisa (negative) and a 8 week oraquick advance rapid test, mouthswab (negative). Are these tests a good indication of my status, eventhough I still have a white tongue? What is the likelihood of a 8 week test turning positive at 13 weeks? Is an Elisa test better than an oraquick test? The clinic said I have to test till 6 months for conclusive result, is that correct?
Thank you Dr., you really have helped me through this and I greatly appreciated your time and attention, you do a great service to those of us that need reassurance!
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Please re-read my comments above and concentrate. You do not have HIV and do not need any additional testing. I'm not going to discuss alternate tests you don't need; and in any case, the other thread I referenced describes exactly what the duo (or combo) test is.
You came to the forum for reassurnace. I gave it, in strong terms, and so did your personal physician. Accept it or not, I don't care. But this isn't a debate and I'm not going to discuss it further. This thread is over.
You came to the forum for reassurnace. I gave it, in strong terms, and so did your personal physician. Accept it or not, I don't care. But this isn't a debate and I'm not going to discuss it further. This thread is over.
I apologize for my ignorance, I am in California. I have checked in the city that I live, the only tests that are offered are the Elisa blood tests (the one I took), the oraquick advance test (the one I took) and the HIV DNA PCR test. When people are referring to the duo test, does that mean that it is a combination of these tests. I even checked websites in San Francisco testing clinics and it does not appear that they offer specifically a duo test, are those only offered in the UK? Would the DNA PCR test do me any good, given that it is only suggested to have this test after 28 days, would 60 days be too long and would essentially invalidate the results of the PCR test? Sorry that I am ignorant on the specifics of these tests, thanks for your advice!
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
As far as I am concerned, your negative 8 week test is 100% definitive, especially because you describe a partner who is very unlikely to be HIV positive, with an exposure that would have little of any chance of HIV transmission even if he were. Combining those low odds with the high reliability of a negative 8 week result, there is no realistic chance you have HIV. If you feel a need for a 3 month test result for additional reassurance, it's fine with me. But I certainly see no need for yet another test at 6 months.
I have never seen any patient whose HIV test ultimately turned positive after a negative result at 4 weeks or later, let alone 8 weeks.
Or you could have a duo test. I'm sure you're wrong about such tests not being available in your area. The major national labs, Quest and Labcorp, are available everywhere -- and they offer duo testing.
As I said above, all your symptoms are irrelevent to the question of whether or not you have HIV. Your test results prove that something else explains any and all symptoms you have had, including the appearance of your tongue.
I have never seen any patient whose HIV test ultimately turned positive after a negative result at 4 weeks or later, let alone 8 weeks.
Or you could have a duo test. I'm sure you're wrong about such tests not being available in your area. The major national labs, Quest and Labcorp, are available everywhere -- and they offer duo testing.
As I said above, all your symptoms are irrelevent to the question of whether or not you have HIV. Your test results prove that something else explains any and all symptoms you have had, including the appearance of your tongue.
Dr., thank you so much for your quick response. This really does help me, I guess my confusion comes from the DUO test explanation, DUO tests are not offered in my part of the country, so an oraquick test is just as conclusive. What you say is very helpful, I guess whats difficult for me is my local clinic says to test to 3 months for a very good indication and 6 months for a conclusive result, if there have been any previous issues of immunocomprised diseases. I have not previously those symptoms, so I guess I would take a 3 month test as conclusive. Is your 8 week advice that I am conclusively hiv negative based on your interaction with patients, meaning you havent seen anyone with 8 week negative results then turn postive later?
For my own peace of mind I will get tested at 3 months and post my results, but based off of your direction, I am going to move on and take your clinical advice, thank you so much Dr.! I will continue working with my doctor, I took the water candida test and it appears that I definitely have some type of candida, which I hope could be causing some of my symptoms and could have even been caused by the antibiotic that I took, do you think that would be a good assessment?
Again, thanks for your counsel!
For my own peace of mind I will get tested at 3 months and post my results, but based off of your direction, I am going to move on and take your clinical advice, thank you so much Dr.! I will continue working with my doctor, I took the water candida test and it appears that I definitely have some type of candida, which I hope could be causing some of my symptoms and could have even been caused by the antibiotic that I took, do you think that would be a good assessment?
Again, thanks for your counsel!
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Welcome to the forum. I'll try to help.
The bottom line: for sure you did not contract HIV. It's time to stop worrying about it.
The important information in your question is in the last paragraph. As long as testing is done sufficiently long after exposure, the test results overrule all other predictors of HIV: exposure history, symptoms, everything. Your negative antibody tests at 4 and 8 weeks show you were not infected. The details of the sexual exposure, whether or not your partner has HIV, and your symptoms all are irrelevant in view of those results.
ELISA and Oraquick are equally reliable. As for waiting 6 months for reliable results, that's really not true. For the antibody tests, 3 months is as long as it ever takes, and in general 8 weeks is sufficient. Here is a thread that discusses these issues in detail. (Read it all; the most important information is in a follow-up comment.)
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/HIV-Prevention/-A-Question-on-Testing/show/1347755
If you have any symptoms that continue to concern you, keep working with your doctor about them. But you can ignore HIV. You don't have it.
Regards-- HHH, MD
The bottom line: for sure you did not contract HIV. It's time to stop worrying about it.
The important information in your question is in the last paragraph. As long as testing is done sufficiently long after exposure, the test results overrule all other predictors of HIV: exposure history, symptoms, everything. Your negative antibody tests at 4 and 8 weeks show you were not infected. The details of the sexual exposure, whether or not your partner has HIV, and your symptoms all are irrelevant in view of those results.
ELISA and Oraquick are equally reliable. As for waiting 6 months for reliable results, that's really not true. For the antibody tests, 3 months is as long as it ever takes, and in general 8 weeks is sufficient. Here is a thread that discusses these issues in detail. (Read it all; the most important information is in a follow-up comment.)
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/HIV-Prevention/-A-Question-on-Testing/show/1347755
If you have any symptoms that continue to concern you, keep working with your doctor about them. But you can ignore HIV. You don't have it.
Regards-- HHH, MD
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