Help i am scared about HIV

[M85]

Hi I am an almost 20 year old, male, college student who is very scared about what i have done. I have previously had chlamydia  from a girlfriend who cheated on me so i am freaked every time i have sex. I was recently enjoying a spring break in Mexico when my friends and i decided to go to a strip club and have some drinks.  I had one stripper who was buying me drinks and seemed like a nice girl so i stayed to watch her.  My friends and I ended up taking four of strippers back to our condo to just drink with them.  I went into a room with the one who was buying me drinks and she gave me a condom.  I put the condom on and proceeded to insert it into her vagina.  She was kinda dry and it wasn't easy fitting it in, and right as i got it in i felt the condom break so i immediately pulled out. I think that some of my penis was then exposed to her vagina.  I know that I was inside of her for absolutely no longer than about 2-4 seconds.  As soon as i got my penis out i had my clothes on and went to the bathroom and used soap and water to clean my penis very well. These girls were very nice and one even stayed the night and cooked breakfast for a couple of the guys, but i was still freaked out.  My freinds told me that the girl that stayed showed them a peice of paper or paper work that said that she was clean from everything, and that all the girls have to be tested this way every 15 days or they cannot work (this wasn't a really sleezy Mexican strip club either, it was pretty clean)  I have two major questions that i need answered.  Is the time that i spent inside of her (2-4) seconds long enough for me to catch the HIV Virus even if i washed myself.  All i see on TV are adds to about how HIV is killing everybody and i am really scared right now. I have read all the symptoms and i have had none yet and i usually get swollen lymph nodes when a virus attacks me. i also have no other STD symptoms either and everything on the outside looks fine.  I have had 2 previous tests that have proven me to be HIV negative.  The second question i have is that this is really bothering me and i have trouble eating and sleeping because i don't want to be infected and don't want to infect anybody else, so how soon can i get a test that i can be confident about?  I hear 2-6 weeks or 3 months and i need to know soon because it is really messing with my head. I am a very clean and for the most part responsible person and i don't want this to ruin my life. Please any help would be greatly appreciated, i am pretty damn scared.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Relax; you are overreacting and there is no reason to be "pretty damn scared".  To quote myself from the response to "Im worried" just yesterday, "Many young people grow up in today's world with an inflated notion of the STD/HIV risks associated with sex, and it sound like that applies to you. For example, heterosexually transmitted HIV is rare in the US, in the absence of bisexuality, drug use, and certain other high risk situations (which by and large don't apply to college students)."

Anyway, the odds the stripper had HIV is very low.  And if she did, even standard vaginal intercourse lasting several minutes without a condom carries an average risk of HIV transmission somewhere around 1 in 1000 to 1 in 2000.  What can it be with immediate pull-out if a condom breaks?

The bottom line is that I see no particular reason for you to be HIV tested as a result of this event.  But if you're still nervous and won't sleep until you have a negative test result, have an HIV test 4-6 weeks after the event.  You are right that some experts recommend waiting as long as 3 months, but it really isn't necessary.  (Search this forum for "time to positive HIV test".)

Better yet, visit your student health clinic.  University student health services typically provide expert and senstive STD/HIV care and prevention advice, and can give you a more accurate perspective on the real risks of HIV.  Don't be embarrassed; I promise they have heard stories like yours many times.  In the meantime, mellow out.  You'll be fine.

HHH, MD

[monkeyflower]

I dunno. Most student health center staff are probably great, but some... not so much. One of the facilitators at a seminar I attended a couple of months ago was a nurse at a large university student health center. She was *grossly* misinformed about most STDs, which unfortunately was supposedly her area of expertise at the conference (and otherwise). The worst part is that she actually does the STD testing/education at the health center, so she is constantly perpetuating these myths to students who probably don't know to question her "facts".

[M85]

I have a few more questions now. First off thank you for your help i feel that it has helped me a good deal. It sounds like you know alot about what you are talking about and i want to tell my student health center about what you have done for me and the services that you provide.  All that i know is that you have about 30 years of medical experience with STD's, and i was wondering if you could elaborate upon that?

I also consulted my father who is a veteranarian (not a whole lot of help but a doctor none the less) and he felt the same way about me not needing a test.  but i am still going to have to get the test for my own mental purposes. No offense on getting the test i just seem to be a bit of a worry wart and i have a girlfriend that i do care about (and i feel horrible for letting myself do this) It seems to me that 6 weeks seems to be an almost 100% chance of not giving me a false negative reading.  Should i ask to use a third generation test, that seems to be the best one after reading the forums that you suggested.  It will be a week tomorrow since the incident so i plan to wait untill the six month test to anything sexual with my girlfriend. Please respond as soon as possible, thanks again for all of your help!

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

M85:  It doesn't matter which HIV test you have; just accept whatever test your provider's lab normally uses.  The differences between the older and newer ("3rd generation") tests are trivial; they just turn positive an average of 4-5 days more rapidly. With any test, 6 wk after exposure is fine.  I don't know what information you want about my 30 years experience.  Read the introduction to the STD forum.

MF:  I stand by my advice about university student health clinics.  Most of them have more day-to-day experience with common STDs than most providers, and through experience, interest and dedication, they tend to be good bets for quality care.  Of course there are exceptions to every generalization.

HHH, MD

[Willl]

I went to a large University and had to go to Health Services because I had burning during urination. The Dr. told me I had gonorrhea, I told him I didn't. Then he started making fun of my girlfriend, he told me she had been sleeping around the fraternity house and was talking in a child like voice. I ended up being right when the test came back negative. I had never seen a Dr. act that way before.