Worried About HIV

[worried1385]

Hi, Recently I had unprotected vagina sex with two different men the same weekend but neither ejaculated.  Soon after I started to feel like something was wrong.  One day 13 I had slight itching in my vagina and went to the doctor and they said there was some discharge as a result of some bacteria but nothing else.  I continued to not feel well and had a lot of fatigue and muscle and joint aches.  Day 30 I started having a bad sore throat.  Day 32 my throat was very sore with a lot of pain in my ears and swollen lymph nodes in my throat and I went to a clinic at the drug store (doctor was closed) and they gave me bactrim and sent me home.  The next two days the throat and ear pain continued with some fever and night sweats.  I continued on the bactrim at two a day and on the 9th day of the medication (day 42) I broke out in a rash all over my body.  On day 42/6 weeks I had a blood test for HIV (ELISA for HIV 1 and 2 with Western Blot confirmed) and also went to my Primary Care doctor and they said the rash was probably an allergic reaction from the Sulfa in the Bactrim.  The rash took a week to clear up on antihistamines.  The HIV test was negative but on day 45 I developed swollen lymph nodes on the back of my head/neck.

Both of my partners say they are fine.  One went for a blood test the same day I did but his results are not back yet.  I am worried sick that this could be HIV.  

1.  Could a poor immune system delay the amount of detectable antibodies in my system?
2. Could the bactrim have delayed the amount of antibodies?
3.  Should I be concerned?  I know symptoms don't mean evernything..

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to our Forum.  I can understand why you might worry and hope that I can help to reassure you that you did not get HIV from the encounters you describe.  It sounds as though you probably did have some sort of viral infection about a month after the exposures that you mention. This may have been a viral infection you acquired through your activities of daily living and be could totally unrelated to your earlier sexual encounters.  What you describe sounds a bit like what doctors call a "mononucleosis syndrome" which means it could have been due to mono (which is turn is caused by at least two different viruses) or some other viral illness.  Then you had the misfortune to get a drug rash (which is actually more common among people who take antibiotics when they have mono).  The scenario mimics the symptoms of HIV.  BUT, let me reassure you, symptoms beginning a month after exposure is late for  the symptoms of early HIV and, most importantly, a negative blood test a week after the onset of symptoms is VERY strong evidence that your illness was not due to HIV.  With this as background, let me answer your questions:

1.  No, the idea is delayed seroconversion is severely overstated.
2.  Nope again, bactrim would not delay antibody production.
3.  No, don't be concerned, you Have done the right things.  If you find that both of your partners are HIV negative, you will know you could not have gotten HIV form them.  Alternatively for complete peace of mind you can re-test at 8 weeks and the negative test result you will get at that time will also provide completely reliable evidence that you did not get HIV from these exposures. I am confident that testing will be negative

I hope my comments are helpful to you.  Before I go however, let me urge you to use condoms consistently in the future with new of multiple partners. They work and there are lots of other STDs that you could be exposed to.  EWH

[Edward W Hook, MD]

As I said, all of this is completely consistent with  mono or another non-HIV viral infection and there is good evidence that you do not have HIV.  EWH

[worried1385]

Thanks for the reply.  It does help ease my mind a little.  However, the enlarged lymph nodes on the back of my head/neck really concern me at 6-7 weeks.  I feel relatively fine (minus the fatigue and anxiety) so I don't feel like they could be a different virus.  Could it be HIV?  Should I assume it's mono or a delay from the allergic reaction I had to the sulfa?  Thanks, again.