A rash on my torso after a 2 second dip

[buffjay]

Hey everyone,

Just over two weeks ago I decided to exercise my new found freedom as a newly single gay man. After chatting to a few guys online, I met someone for sex. It was a snap decision, I'd been out with colleagues, had a bit to drink and his place was on my way home.
On his suggestion, we showered together and then had sex. It didn't last a whole lot of time...there was a bit of oral, some rimming and then kissing and grinding. He rolled onto his stomach as I grinded from above and my penis penetrated him for 1 - 2 seconds before I quickly withdrew. I then put on a condom and finished the job. It was late so I stayed the night, we chatted more and then I began feeling uneasy. He spoke off taking drugs, an ex that was an escort and his love of going to hard gay clubs for days on end. I also noticed a couple of medications on his shelf one of wish I secretly googled...it was a cream for skin infections such as impetigo.

A week later he messaged me again hoping for another meet. I had been over-thinking everything and asked him about his sexual history. I asked if he was HIV+ and he immediately went off-line. Eventually he returned and asked me why I had asked him that. In my experience if you ask someone this question that is negative, they say so straight away. He eventually said he didn't know but that he had had a lot of bareback sex with a lot of people and suspected he was positive.

This was exactly one week after I had met up with him so I knew it was too late for PEP. I kept playing back that 2 seconds of bare penetration in my head. I immediately began to worry. 
Then the symptoms began. I've had an almost constant dull headache for a week now. I've had Diarrhoea several times in the last week. My throat is also sore, becoming worse each day. All of this can be attributed to the time of year and anxiety but then I noticed a rash on my torso.   http://i.imgur.com/oNtyV.jpg

Its been 2 weeks since exposure now. I went to the GUM clinic last night and had tests. They said the rash could be HIV...or a number of other things. I was hoping to feel more reassured. 

Its possibly too soon to even get symptoms. Deep down I know that what I did was very low risk and I'd like to think my tests next week (and the one I'll take in 6 weeks) come back clear. But every now I then I find myself panic...I struggle to sleep at night. My rash is still present...could I have picked up some other skin infection from him? I guess I'm just after some advice and maybe a bit of hope...

[Ann]

Jay,

I'm sorry your thread was accidentally overlooked. It happens now and then despite our best efforts.

You have had a risk, albeit one on the lower end of the scale. The brief unprotected insertion you experienced is along the same lines as being the insertive partner when a condom breaks, and I have yet to see the insertive partner end up hiv positive following a condom break. I don't expect you to be the first in this type of incident.

You seem to already know the drill - test at six weeks and then again at three months to confirm a six week negative. A six week negative is highly unlikely to change, but must be confirmed at the three month point.

You say you found a medication indicating he was treating a skin infection like impetigo, and those types of bacterial skin infections are highly contagious. While they're more common in children, people who play contact sports or visit gyms are also susceptible. Intimate skin-to-skin contact during sexual activities can also spread these types of skin infections.

So yes, your rash could be whatever it was this guy was dealing with. That's the far more likely explanation than an hiv related rash so soon after a possible exposure. If the rash persists, see your GP. It's unlikely to have anything to do with hiv - even if you did happen to become infected during this incident. Your rash looks nothing like the rash associated with seroconversion.

I'd like to suggest that you urge this fellow to get tested. Ignorance is NOT bliss when it comes to hiv. The sooner he knows his hiv status, the sooner he can start to take care of his health if he is positive. If/when he goes on meds and achieves an undetectable viral load, he will be much less likely to pass his virus on to anyone else - and he will increase the chance that he'll live a long and healthy life. If he continues on undiagnosed, he may be feeling fine one day, and in hospital fighting for his life with a nasty case of PCP pneumonia the next. It can happen that quickly when one has been hiv positive and untreated for years.

I am NOT suggesting you urge him to test in order to know more about your own situation. You need to assume ANYONE you are intimate with is hiv positive and protect yourself accordingly. I'm urging you to get him to test because hiv these days is only a death sentence when it is undiagnosed and untreated.

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!



edited for clarity

[buffjay]

Thanks Ann, your knowledge and expertise is certainly more reassuring than what I experienced at the GUM clinic.

I did urge him to get tested and apparently he did with a negative result. I also asked him about the skin cream and he said it was for acne. He was generally offended by my questions and now refuses to talk to me. He couldn't understand why I am so concerned as according to him our sex was completely safe.

I know that it wasn't. I also don't believe much of what comes out of his mouth. He seems to be caught up in a rather dark world fuelled by drugs and sex. I wouldn't be surprised if he was positive and has known his status the whole time.

The rash definitely seems to be fading although the constant headache remains...I really hope it is just due to the tension of the whole situation. It seems to be a universal fact that HIV rouses an intense fear and paranoia in so many of us...I am definitely ready to believe that so much of what I'm experiencing right now is psychosomatic. But even then I have my moments... and panic.

Thank you for this great service you provide!