Condom broke while doing it with an hiv+ guy

[lonely pinoy]

Goodevening! i've been reading the posts and i want to say thank you for having this forum and running, so here goes my story.

since june this year, i've been having protected anal sex witha guy who just tested non-reactive to an hiv test march of this year. never did we have any problems until october 29 last week. unfortunately, the condom broke, the moment i pulled the condom out (which is less than 5 seconds) it was already at the end of my penis. i encouraged him to take a test to ease our mind off of things. so i did my test november 1 and him being november 4, he came back positive.

i believe there are risk factors involved here, my anxiety and low emotions are currently killing me. never took pep because we weren't expecting his result to be positive, he always had safe sex before me. what are the odds that i got it from the incident? what tests can i get as of the moment? do i have to wait for a month? three months? this is killing me inside, i don't know if i can survive the emotional wreck. he did not bleed whatsoever. he's not even symptomatic. i am also concerned whether his viral load is high or not. please help me.

[Andy Velez]

Hi,

Yes, you did have a risk but from what you have described I would consider it to have been a very low level risk. The risk for the insertive partner is significantly less than it is for the receptive partner. It was a single and very brief incident during which you were protected until the condom broke.

You can test initially at 6 weeks. Assuming the result is negative for you and that is what I expect it will be, then the very strong likelihood is that it will be negative for a conclusive result at 3 months.

I expect you to come out of this ok.

Your partner in the situation should make sure a western blot was done to confirm his positive result. That is standard procedure when someone tests positive.

[lonely pinoy]

sorry, but when i say the condom is at the end of the penis, what i meant was it is at the end of the shaft near the pubic area. do i need to get an dna or pcaor p24 test in two weeks or would that just be a waste? the emptional distress is killing me.

his viral load might be at its peak, iv also read that the highest concentration of virus is found in the anal area of a person.would this put me in a high risk? sorry for asking too much, i don't have anyone here.

[Ann]

Lonely,

The earliest you should test is at six weeks, with a standard hiv antibody test.

The vast majority of people who have actually been infected will seroconvert and test positive by six weeks, with the average time to seroconversion being only 22 days.

A six week negative must be confirmed at the three month point, but is highly unlikely to change.

Whether you like it or not, there simply are NO short-cuts to hiv testing.

PCR RNA tests are a waste of money. Regardless of the result, positive or negative, that result must STILL be confirmed with antibody testing.

What you need to do is to have an hiv antibody test - a rapid test is fine - at six weeks. Provided this result is negative, you will have to wait until the three month point to confirm that result.

An hiv 1&2 test tests for the two types of hiv. Fourth generation hiv 1&2 tests also tests for the p24 antigen, which is only present in the first few weeks of infection. Once enough antibodies are created to produce a positive result, the p24 disappears.

There may be a time period of a few days where enough antibodies have NOT yet been produced to trigger a positive antibody result, but enough have been produced to stop the production of the p24 antigen. Therefore, a positive or a negative p24 antigen result must be confirmed with further antibody testing.

Again, there are no short-cuts to hiv testing. ANY result must always be confirmed with further testing - a Western Blot test in the case of a positive antibody result, and further antibody testing at the three month point for a negative antibody result. A negative antibody result at three months is conclusive.

Like Andy, I fully expect you to come out of this ok. I have yet to see the insertive partner end up hiv positive following a condom break and I do not expect to you will be the first.

Here's what you need to know in order to avoid hiv infection:

You need to be using condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, every time, no exceptions until such time as you are in a securely monogamous relationship where you have both tested for ALL sexually transmitted infections together.

To agree to have unprotected intercourse is to consent to the possibility of being infected with an STI. Sex without a condom lasts only a matter of minutes, but hiv is forever.

Have a look through the condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use condoms with confidence.

Anyone who is sexually active should be having a full sexual health care check-up, including but not limited to hiv testing, at least once a year and more often if unprotected intercourse occurs.

If you aren't already having regular, routine check-ups, now is the time to start. As long as you make sure condoms are being used for intercourse, you can fully expect your routine hiv tests to return with negative results.

Don't forget to always get checked for all the other sexually transmitted infections as well, because they are MUCH easier to transmit than hiv. Some of the other STIs can be present with no obvious symptoms, so the only way to know for sure is to test.

Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, and you will avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple!

Ann

[lonely pinoy]

thank you for replying. i really appreciate it. at this point, my body is already responding to the psychological stress i am experiencing, i've lost my appetite, im having lose bowels from probably the large dose of vitamin c i took (2000mg) last monday in one go. i really do hope i come out of this okay. the six week waiting time is killing me.

[Andy Velez]

...and none of those symptoms are in any way HIV specific.