Please Advise! So Concerned About Symptoms

[Sprv]

I'm a women who had protected (as far as I know) sex multiple times with a male as well as unprotected oral sex.  There was also a moment of his penis rubbing on the outside of my vagina.  During the first week after this encounter I had diarrhea for several days. Then last week I started to feel what I can only imagine as swollen glands under my jaw on both sides of my neck. No major sore throat... just a frog in the back of the throat feeling. Then this week the swollen feeling persists and has moved down my neck to my collarbone. The sides of my neck are also very sore. Additionally, the diarrhea has returned... although I wonder if this could be due to antibiotics. I have had no fever or rash or any other symptoms except for being tired and so stressed. What makes me so nervous is I have never had the feeing of swollen glands before… especially in my collarbone. I had a doctor's office hiv test at 17 days (do they use the duo test now in most labs in the US?) and a clearview antibody hiv quick test at 21 days… I understand I will need to test again, but would you please advise on if you think there is a risk and if these symptoms seem to be an indicator? I just can't wait anymore... feel like I am going crazy. :(

[Sprv]

Thank you for your time Doctor. Much appreciated under the circumstances.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to our Forum.  I hope that I can help to reduce your worry.  For starters few heterosexual men have HIV -less than 1 in 10,000 if they do not use IV drugs.  Further, condom protected sex is safe sex and if the condom appeared intact after sex, it was.  When condoms fail, there is no doubt that this has occurred- the condom is broken wide open.  

Rubbing of the penis on the outside of your vagina, without penetration would not put you at risk for HIV either.  

Your initial episode of diarrhea started too soon to be related to HIV as the symptoms of early HIV typically begin more than two weeks after contact, not at a week. Further, both your diarrhea and your sore neck (for whatever reason) are not suggestive of HIV and, had they been due to HIV your HIV tests taken after these symptoms had occurred would have been positive.

In general at two weeks after exposure about 50% of persons with recently acquired HIV will have positive antibody tests.  At 4 weeks the figure rises to 90% and by 8 weeks virtually everyone who has HIV will have a positive test.  When symptoms are caused by HIV however, antibody tests typically become positive just a few days after symptoms begin because the symptoms of early HIV are due to the interaction of the virus with antibodies.  

thus, to summarize, this was a low risk exposure with little risk for infection and I am confident that your symptoms do not represent recently acquired HIV.  I hope these comments are helpful. EWH