HIV Exposure

[B_Rick]

Sir,

I am sure you have had this question before, but I am in a bit of a panic, I am sure the internet does not help.  Approximately one month ago, I was with a woman, and prior to having sexual intercourse I told her I needed a condom.  She inserted my penis inside of her, and I stopped her after 10-15 seconds, and did not have any further sexual contact.  Approxmately two days later I felt a pressure in my head, not a headache but a type of pressure.  It is not painful, just more bothersome but when I go to sleep at night, I can feel a heart beat in my neck/face area and a fairly loud ringing in my ears.  This has been going on about a month.  I feel good, have not had any flu like symptoms, fever, nor have I had any muscle or joint pain.  I also recently had an infection on my foot and was provided antibiotics, and today noticed a white type film on the back of my tongue near my taste buds.  Also on the left side of my neck the muscle that runs nearly up to the ear is a bit sore, but I do not believe I have any swollen lymph nodes, every looks like it usually does.  Also my stools have been normal, there have been a couple days where they were a bit loose, but nothing I would call complete diarrhea.  I plan on getting tested in the next couple of days, but it could still be a bit early.  I am just really not sure what to think at this point.  Any help you could provide me would be greatly appreciated.  

Thank you in advance  

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to the Forum. Please stay off the internet.  While there is much useful information available on the internet, much of it is also taken out of context or a bit unbalanced and some of it is just plain wrong..  

You did have an unprotected exposure to a new partner, thus there is a slight risk of infection although, to be honest, the risk for chlamydia or gonorrhea is many times higher than your risk for HIV.  Unless your partner was an IV drug user, the likelihood that a heterosexual woman in North America has HIV is less than 1 in 10,000. then, the risk of getting infected if, indeed, your partner ha infection, is 1 infection per 1000 exposure.  Thus mathematically, your risk for infection is about 1 in 10 million - your risk of getting HIV is much higher.  

Your symptoms are in no way suggestive of early HIV. they do not match with the ARS.  I think you should test for your peace of mind but I urge you not to worry.   A test at 4 weeks will detect over 90% of recently acquired infections while at 8 weeks virtually all will be detected.  I predict that no matter when you test, you will be negative and find that you did not become infected by this exposure.  EWH

[Edward W Hook, MD]

On average, IF you were exposed to an infected partner (statistically unlikely), the risk of infection is one infection for every 1000 sex acts.  EWH

[B_Rick]

Thank you very much for the information, I have just been a bit concerned with the feel of a heartbeat in my head/neck, when I am not moving.  For your numbers that you posted such as the 1 infection per 1000 exposure, does that mean there is a 1 in 1000 chance, or once out of every 1000 exposures a person will become infected?  


Thank You