Aa
Mystery virus
Dear all,
I am a 25 year old male, single, live in Jakarta, Indonesia, in South East Asia.
Please help me determine what I should get tested with, I am very confused as to what I was infected with. Please be reminded that this will be a very long post.
Previously I already had HSV1, HSV2, and a lot of HPV (pretty sure due to my promiscuity though no symptoms present). I had also been infected with Hepatitis A as a child.
December 24-27 2008, I got mild HSV2 breakout that subsided quickly because I took Valtrex (Valacyclovir).
On 30th December 2008, I got a ******* from an older street prostitute.
She went too fast and grinded her teeth on my penis, resulting in some small scratches/cuts, the skin on the back of the penis head was scraped (I am uncircumcised).
The first week:
2 days after the incident, the scratches developed IMPETIGO (some sort of bacterial infection) but I thought it was my HSV2 breaking out again, it was unusual as my HSV2 only broke out once in two months.
I went to a doctor 4 days later (6th day) because the impetigo got bigger and finally got my attention because my actual HSV2 started breaking out again. The doctor gave me some antibiotics for the impetigo, but she also told me if the prostitute had HIV, I will get it too as Impetigo means there are open wounds/ulcers in her mouth.
The doctor reminded me that she must have had very poor oral hygiene and was bleeding from her gums/mouth otherwise I would not have been infected with Impetigo.
The doctor told me I should’ve gotten circumcised as it would have reduced the risk of getting HSV, HIV, or even impetigo tremendously.
I did not think too much of this at this time, the impetigo went away after 2 to 3 days.
The second week:
I went down with some night fevers and had a widal test and was diagnosed with typhoid (not related to the *******, I guess) and I took Ciprofloxacin for 5 days, 2 tablets daily. This separate incidence which made me took this strong antibiotics pretty much ruled out any STD infection caused by bacteria, right?
The typhoid fevers went away within the first couple of days of taking the antibiotics. I got tested with widal again and it came out negative, so the typhoid was definitely cleared out by the antibiotics.
The third and following weeks:
I developed severe headache for 3 days with severe back pain (never had anything this severe, I couldn’t even sit upright or sleep at night), I stayed in bed.
After the headache and back pain subsided, I got severe sore throat (with some ulcers on the back of my throat) with night fevers and myalgia on my right thigh that lasted for 2 weeks, I went to two different throat specialists who gave me antibiotics, anti inflammation drugs and even anti Chlamydia antibiotics. Nothing worked. But I tried to stay active and not stay in bed anymore.
During the last day of the sore throat, I started having severe burning sensation like a localized high fever running down from my throat (2 days) to my armpits (3 days) then to my left stomach area (my guess is my spleen, for 3 days) and then down to my crotch (2 days), it was hell for more than 1 week, 1 sweat so much that my bed was drenched. I felt very weak and could not do anything but stay in bed the whole time. I also lost my appetite.
On the 5th week, I tested negative for HIV but was told it was not conclusive. My CD4 was 444 (strong indication of HIV), my IgE was also very high, way above the normal value. I also developed swollen lymph nodes on my upper neck right under my jaw, my armpits, and my crotch right after the burning sensation subsided. My chest felt full and painful, probably due to enlarged spleen/liver.
I went to another doctor, he told me not to worry but he could not rule out HIV.
Then after that I felt burning sensation /electric shock running down on my spine (from my head/brain down to my lower spine) then I couldn’t sweat for about 3 weeks (maybe neuropathy that causes lack of sweat).
In high temperature condition (Jakarta is very hot) I would sweat on my head, but my body would just feel hot and I could feel my pores opening up but there was no sweat excreted at all.
I would have fever every night but no sweat at all (I was positive it was neuropathy even though I never had neuropathy before)
Between January and February 2009 I lost 12-14 lbs of weight and looked like a skinny zombie. Then I developed rash on my face for a week.
I read on wikipedia that the most common mono-like illness causes are: Epstein Barr Virus (very unlikely as people usually get it during childhood and it would not be this severe, plus I would have gotten it way earlier due to my promiscuity), CMV, HIV, toxoplasmosis, in some cases hepatitis B or C, and Human T Lymphoma Virus which cause leukemia or some sort of lymphoma.
I went to get tested for CMV IgG (positive, value of 171.9) and IgM (negative) on February 23rd 2009 (less than 2 months after the incident) which meant past infection and ruled out recent CMV infection right? At this time, I became sure I had HIV.
During the time of all the severe symptoms in February 2009, I lost about 12lbs of weight and was tired and felt sick all the time. My HSV2 went berserk and I got 3 or 4 breakouts even with Valtrex. I took 1000mg of vitamin C every day along with other vitamins but they did not help at all.
My full and painful chest lasted for 2 months (until end of March 2009) and after that I started developing some severe pain in my heart area followed with tingling and numb left arm, some doctors suspected heart disease. I guess it is some cardiovascular problem due to whatever caused all the other symptoms because I never had it before. The chest pain and subsequent left arm numbness was quite severe as well.
I was 99.99% sure I had HIV and I got myself tested on April 2nd 2009 (I waited for the 3 month period) and to my surprise the result came back negative.
I was then told that getting ******* is not a possible transmission route for HIV.
Curiously, my CD4 was 555, still very low. And I still felt weak and I kept getting sick with the flu, common cold, and sore throat from mid March 2009 until now.
I was so confused. I had already thought I was HIV positive for more than two months only to be tested negative. I was very curious to what I was infected with. I got tested for other viruses on April 6th 2009: HBsAg negative, HCV negative, Toxoplasmosis IgG and IgM negative.
So I read up online again, I could have been infected with Kaposi Sarcoma from the saliva, HLTV 1 or 2 or 3 from the blood, and maybe some other rarely known viruses.
Basically the prostitute's blood and saliva and probably other customers' semen may have been in her mouth and therefore entered my bloodstream.
The chest fullness finally subsided few days ago, the heart problem (?) still come and go, the swollen lymph nodes are still very present in my upper neck and crotch (inguinal).
The questions:
1. What could I have gotten infected with that would cause such symptoms? (Ruling out HBV, HCV, Toxoplasmosis, CMV and HIV)
2. What should I get tested next? (I have not tested for EBV, HLTV1-3, Kaposi Sarcoma, and Lupus rhythmus, Lymphoma [Hodgkin’s or non-Hodgkin] because the medical labs I go to don’t offer these tests)
3. I just realized I should have gotten a throat swab during my 2 week sore throat, but none of the throat specialist even pointed me to that direction, I just found out about this online. Now, should I get a biopsy on my lymph nodes?
4. I seriously don’t know what I got infected with but it was hell for more than two months, more severe than dengue fever or typhoid fever (I’ve had them 3 times each). The swollen lymph nodes are still present even after about two and a half months, my CD4 is also very low, I keep getting sick. Should I be concerned or move on as it’s not HIV?
I am a 25 year old male, single, live in Jakarta, Indonesia, in South East Asia.
Please help me determine what I should get tested with, I am very confused as to what I was infected with. Please be reminded that this will be a very long post.
Previously I already had HSV1, HSV2, and a lot of HPV (pretty sure due to my promiscuity though no symptoms present). I had also been infected with Hepatitis A as a child.
December 24-27 2008, I got mild HSV2 breakout that subsided quickly because I took Valtrex (Valacyclovir).
On 30th December 2008, I got a ******* from an older street prostitute.
She went too fast and grinded her teeth on my penis, resulting in some small scratches/cuts, the skin on the back of the penis head was scraped (I am uncircumcised).
The first week:
2 days after the incident, the scratches developed IMPETIGO (some sort of bacterial infection) but I thought it was my HSV2 breaking out again, it was unusual as my HSV2 only broke out once in two months.
I went to a doctor 4 days later (6th day) because the impetigo got bigger and finally got my attention because my actual HSV2 started breaking out again. The doctor gave me some antibiotics for the impetigo, but she also told me if the prostitute had HIV, I will get it too as Impetigo means there are open wounds/ulcers in her mouth.
The doctor reminded me that she must have had very poor oral hygiene and was bleeding from her gums/mouth otherwise I would not have been infected with Impetigo.
The doctor told me I should’ve gotten circumcised as it would have reduced the risk of getting HSV, HIV, or even impetigo tremendously.
I did not think too much of this at this time, the impetigo went away after 2 to 3 days.
The second week:
I went down with some night fevers and had a widal test and was diagnosed with typhoid (not related to the *******, I guess) and I took Ciprofloxacin for 5 days, 2 tablets daily. This separate incidence which made me took this strong antibiotics pretty much ruled out any STD infection caused by bacteria, right?
The typhoid fevers went away within the first couple of days of taking the antibiotics. I got tested with widal again and it came out negative, so the typhoid was definitely cleared out by the antibiotics.
The third and following weeks:
I developed severe headache for 3 days with severe back pain (never had anything this severe, I couldn’t even sit upright or sleep at night), I stayed in bed.
After the headache and back pain subsided, I got severe sore throat (with some ulcers on the back of my throat) with night fevers and myalgia on my right thigh that lasted for 2 weeks, I went to two different throat specialists who gave me antibiotics, anti inflammation drugs and even anti Chlamydia antibiotics. Nothing worked. But I tried to stay active and not stay in bed anymore.
During the last day of the sore throat, I started having severe burning sensation like a localized high fever running down from my throat (2 days) to my armpits (3 days) then to my left stomach area (my guess is my spleen, for 3 days) and then down to my crotch (2 days), it was hell for more than 1 week, 1 sweat so much that my bed was drenched. I felt very weak and could not do anything but stay in bed the whole time. I also lost my appetite.
On the 5th week, I tested negative for HIV but was told it was not conclusive. My CD4 was 444 (strong indication of HIV), my IgE was also very high, way above the normal value. I also developed swollen lymph nodes on my upper neck right under my jaw, my armpits, and my crotch right after the burning sensation subsided. My chest felt full and painful, probably due to enlarged spleen/liver.
I went to another doctor, he told me not to worry but he could not rule out HIV.
Then after that I felt burning sensation /electric shock running down on my spine (from my head/brain down to my lower spine) then I couldn’t sweat for about 3 weeks (maybe neuropathy that causes lack of sweat).
In high temperature condition (Jakarta is very hot) I would sweat on my head, but my body would just feel hot and I could feel my pores opening up but there was no sweat excreted at all.
I would have fever every night but no sweat at all (I was positive it was neuropathy even though I never had neuropathy before)
Between January and February 2009 I lost 12-14 lbs of weight and looked like a skinny zombie. Then I developed rash on my face for a week.
I read on wikipedia that the most common mono-like illness causes are: Epstein Barr Virus (very unlikely as people usually get it during childhood and it would not be this severe, plus I would have gotten it way earlier due to my promiscuity), CMV, HIV, toxoplasmosis, in some cases hepatitis B or C, and Human T Lymphoma Virus which cause leukemia or some sort of lymphoma.
I went to get tested for CMV IgG (positive, value of 171.9) and IgM (negative) on February 23rd 2009 (less than 2 months after the incident) which meant past infection and ruled out recent CMV infection right? At this time, I became sure I had HIV.
During the time of all the severe symptoms in February 2009, I lost about 12lbs of weight and was tired and felt sick all the time. My HSV2 went berserk and I got 3 or 4 breakouts even with Valtrex. I took 1000mg of vitamin C every day along with other vitamins but they did not help at all.
My full and painful chest lasted for 2 months (until end of March 2009) and after that I started developing some severe pain in my heart area followed with tingling and numb left arm, some doctors suspected heart disease. I guess it is some cardiovascular problem due to whatever caused all the other symptoms because I never had it before. The chest pain and subsequent left arm numbness was quite severe as well.
I was 99.99% sure I had HIV and I got myself tested on April 2nd 2009 (I waited for the 3 month period) and to my surprise the result came back negative.
I was then told that getting ******* is not a possible transmission route for HIV.
Curiously, my CD4 was 555, still very low. And I still felt weak and I kept getting sick with the flu, common cold, and sore throat from mid March 2009 until now.
I was so confused. I had already thought I was HIV positive for more than two months only to be tested negative. I was very curious to what I was infected with. I got tested for other viruses on April 6th 2009: HBsAg negative, HCV negative, Toxoplasmosis IgG and IgM negative.
So I read up online again, I could have been infected with Kaposi Sarcoma from the saliva, HLTV 1 or 2 or 3 from the blood, and maybe some other rarely known viruses.
Basically the prostitute's blood and saliva and probably other customers' semen may have been in her mouth and therefore entered my bloodstream.
The chest fullness finally subsided few days ago, the heart problem (?) still come and go, the swollen lymph nodes are still very present in my upper neck and crotch (inguinal).
The questions:
1. What could I have gotten infected with that would cause such symptoms? (Ruling out HBV, HCV, Toxoplasmosis, CMV and HIV)
2. What should I get tested next? (I have not tested for EBV, HLTV1-3, Kaposi Sarcoma, and Lupus rhythmus, Lymphoma [Hodgkin’s or non-Hodgkin] because the medical labs I go to don’t offer these tests)
3. I just realized I should have gotten a throat swab during my 2 week sore throat, but none of the throat specialist even pointed me to that direction, I just found out about this online. Now, should I get a biopsy on my lymph nodes?
4. I seriously don’t know what I got infected with but it was hell for more than two months, more severe than dengue fever or typhoid fever (I’ve had them 3 times each). The swollen lymph nodes are still present even after about two and a half months, my CD4 is also very low, I keep getting sick. Should I be concerned or move on as it’s not HIV?
I am telling you that this is not an STD. I can't say when you got exposed to whatever but it's not a STD. When you received oral sex you might have been exposed to whatever then but the act of oral sex is not responsible for your symptoms.
Vance, thank you again for the reply.
One very last question:
8. Since you insisted that it's not an STD and said it is not related to sex, may I conclude you are telling me what ever I got infected with was not due to the sexual act at all? But because I thought it was an STD, I made the relation to the fellatio that happened few weeks prior to the symptoms showing up. While in fact, those symptoms were caused by some virus I got exposed to during my other activities (not the sexual act).
Now, this gets me more confused than before...
One very last question:
8. Since you insisted that it's not an STD and said it is not related to sex, may I conclude you are telling me what ever I got infected with was not due to the sexual act at all? But because I thought it was an STD, I made the relation to the fellatio that happened few weeks prior to the symptoms showing up. While in fact, those symptoms were caused by some virus I got exposed to during my other activities (not the sexual act).
Now, this gets me more confused than before...
It is not HIV, 3 month post exposure test is 100% conclusive. And again it is not a concern with oral sex.
5) What you got (if you really have anything) is not an STD, so it is not related to sex.
6) See a Dr, I can only help with STD's here.
7) Again we can't advise anything other then seeing a Dr.
5) What you got (if you really have anything) is not an STD, so it is not related to sex.
6) See a Dr, I can only help with STD's here.
7) Again we can't advise anything other then seeing a Dr.
The promiscuity has been ceased for good, thank you for the advice :)
Protection was always used after I got herpes with this one exception, and this happened.
What you said about hiv testing does not sound very scientific..
I did see specialists and they were dumbfounded and thought I was making this up.
So yeah, it was stressful when i thought I had hiv, after I got the negative result, it had just been simply confusing and making me really curious.
Protection was always used after I got herpes with this one exception, and this happened.
What you said about hiv testing does not sound very scientific..
I did see specialists and they were dumbfounded and thought I was making this up.
So yeah, it was stressful when i thought I had hiv, after I got the negative result, it had just been simply confusing and making me really curious.
I think first a formost you should cease the promiscuous behavior. If you can't do this then you should at least use protection. Because that means you are spreading herpes. Any way if I were you I would continue to get tested every three months for a few years for hiv because those are very signifigant sighns of the virus. Maybe you should try seeing a speacialist and they can find out exactly what you have contracted. Instead of you looking up and finding things to be tested for. Its less stressful.
Thanks for the reply, Vance.
5. I guess it's not coined as an STD but since I got it through a sexual act, does anyone here have a clue?
6. I have followed up with many doctors here in Jakarta (a neurologist, a surgeon, two throat specialists, two STD specialists, four physicians) and nobody can tell me anything. One thing for sure though, the symptoms that I had are all exactly the same as HIV symptoms listed on wikipedia, within the correct time frames.
What could have exactly the same symptoms as HIV other than Toxoplasmosis, CMV, EBV and Hepatitis?
7. Any idea on how to figure this out for sure? A biopsy or any other method?
5. I guess it's not coined as an STD but since I got it through a sexual act, does anyone here have a clue?
6. I have followed up with many doctors here in Jakarta (a neurologist, a surgeon, two throat specialists, two STD specialists, four physicians) and nobody can tell me anything. One thing for sure though, the symptoms that I had are all exactly the same as HIV symptoms listed on wikipedia, within the correct time frames.
What could have exactly the same symptoms as HIV other than Toxoplasmosis, CMV, EBV and Hepatitis?
7. Any idea on how to figure this out for sure? A biopsy or any other method?
1) Not an STD, and this is an STD forum so anything else I would not know.
2) I have no clue, best bet is to follow up with a Dr
3) Follow up with your Dr
4) You tested negative for HIV and HIV is not a risk via oral sex so move on from that.
2) I have no clue, best bet is to follow up with a Dr
3) Follow up with your Dr
4) You tested negative for HIV and HIV is not a risk via oral sex so move on from that.
Sorry, ******** was meant to be oral sex, but I used the more vulgar term for it.
Have an Answer?
You are reading content posted in the STDs / STIs Community
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Millions of people are diagnosed with STDs in the U.S. each year.
STDs can't be transmitted by casual contact, like hugging or touching.
Syphilis is an STD that is transmitted by oral, genital and anal sex.
