HIV negative at 11 weeks, need to retest at 3 months?

[hamati]

Had protected oral and vaginal with a sex worker april 20th. Started feeling fatigued and pain in joints a couple of weeks after encounter and have had no relief since. Went to see Dr and did CBC, blood chemistry and HIV, all ok, HIV negative (3rd gen ELISA).

All blood tests were done at 76 days (11 weeks) from encounter. Do I need to retest at the 90 day mark or are 11 weeks close enough to confirm no infection?.

Many thanks,

Hugo

[Jeff G]

Hi Hamati , You never had a risk to begin with so if this is the only situation 3 months prior to your test then you are  conclusively HIV negative and do not need to test again .

As long as you are using condoms consistently and correctly for vaginal and anal sex you will not become infected with HIV .

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!

[hamati]

Since the muscles in my legs keep feeling fatigued and I felt sick during excercise, I did another HIV antibody test at 90 days exactly...it came back negative (3rd gen chemiluminescence). I also went to see an endocrinologist, who say my labs and after examining me, said I was in perfect health

I thought that would ease my worries, but it certainly did not. I keep feeling sick and having fatigued legs.

Went to see an HIV specialist in Mexico City, he is the authority on HIV in the country. He is very amicable, but what he said certainly didn't ease my worries, he didn't go in detail about my exposure and said condoms are not always 100% safe, that with a 90 day negative I'm over 90% sure I did not catch HIV, but he did say it is necessary to test at 6 months to be certain (keep in mind that in Mexico we do have 3rd and 4th generation testing in public and private care).

After a very thorough examination he did not find swollen lymph nodes, rash or enlarged spleen. Said the symptoms I'm having are not related to seroconversion. He ordered a CBC and systemic inflammatory markers and said that if something came up in the tests we should investigate further (all came back negative). He didn't order more HIV testing and commented that if he thought something was up he would have ordered a PCR test. He just said I should take it easy for while excercising (haven't been able to excercise since then...keep feeling sick at times).

Reading the stories of people seroconverting and them feeling fatigued for months, having leg pain and testing negative at 3 months, I am becoming increasingly worried. I guess I expected the Dr to say I did not have anything to worry about, but the 6 month testing recommendation and ongoing leg symptoms is not making it easy.

Anybody been through a similar experience? Did you keep having sympomts after 4 months from ARS and still tested negative?. Did a 3 month negative turn positive after? Should I hace the PCR done?

Many thanks for your replies.

[Jeff G]

Hamati , HIV isn't your problem , you do not have HIV and you do not need further testing for this incident . I suggest talking this over with a mental health professional because there is nothing more we can do for you .

Testing at 6 weeks post exposure and again is the CDC guideline we go by . A 90 day negative result is definitive , you do not have HIV . 

[hamati]

I understand why at 90 days a test is conclusive, many sources and experts have this as a guideline. Why is there still a controversy between sources and experts about 3 or 6 months antibody testing?. 6 month wait for a conclusive test coming from a top HIV specialist is conflicting to say the least.

Have you ever known about a 3 month negative turning positive at 6 months?

Are people telling their own seroconversion lying or is there a general policy in the web forums to calm people down?.

[Jeff G]

The CDC guideline for HIV testing is 6 weeks post exposure and again at 3 months to confirm the results , its been the excepted guideline for years now .

I have never heard of anyone testing positive after a 3 months unless they were exposed after the 3 month test .

We use peer reviewed science for our assessments in order to tell the truth about HIV and its ridiculous to suggest we would bend the truth to keep people calm .