POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: jim1974 on May 20, 2014, 03:17:18 pm
-
Hello
Short summary:
Exposure with a high-risk partner (female, and I am male): unprotected oral (giving and receiving). Vaginal with condom, HOWEVER the condom broke (completely) after about 3 minutes. Was inside for 2, max 3, seconds "without" condom. Then, wiped off with hand and continued with a new condom.
Symptoms, starting 21 days after exposure:
Light fever (about 2 days)
Pain in "upper" throat when swallowing
One swollen (red + tender) lymph node on neck, under ear
Night sweat (one night)
Slightly runny nose
Diarrhea, for one day
Dry cough for about 3-4 days (cough originating in "upper" part of throat)
Normally I would have assumed the symptoms was just an upper respiratory infection (and a pretty mild one), but given the exposure 3 weeks earlier I am worried.
What do you think?
-
The condom break and subsquent unprotected sex was a risk so you will need to test at 6 weeks past any possible exposure and again at 3 months to confirm the results .
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!
-
Thank you for your reply, Jeff!
Since it was only 2-3 seconds unprotected, how does that affect the risk? Does it affect it at all?
Also, about the symptoms: would you say that they are possible ARS symptoms?
Depending on where you read it seems that some things, like cough and runny nose are not associated with ARS, and that symptoms should be more flu-like (information varies depending on the source).
Jim
-
Exposure with a high-risk partner
Jim,
You need to understand that there is NO SUCH THING as a "high-risk partner".
I hope you realise that ANYONE you have sex with could potentially be hiv positive and either not tell you, or not know themselves, so you need to always protect yourself by using condoms. People are not high or low or no risk, ACTIVITIES are high or low or no risk. It's not WHO you do, it's HOW you do it that matters.
The only true "risk group" for hiv is that group of people who have or have had unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse (or share drug injecting equipment) with persons of unknown or positive hiv status. If you've ever had unprotected intercourse with anyone, then you're in this risk group. Most people in the world are.
Unless you've tested together with a person in the context of a mutually monogamous relationship, then you cannot be 100% sure of anyone's hiv status.
Wrap it up and you won't have to worry about any of this, regardless of with whom you have anal or vaginal intercourse. Those are the only true hiv risks, sexually speaking. Got it? Good.
You are highly unlikely to end up hiv positive over a condom break. Hiv is a fragile, difficult to transmit virus and more so from a woman (receptive partner) to a man (insertive partner). I've been answering transmission and testing questions in this forum since 2001 and I've yet to see the insertive partner end up hiv positive following a condom break and I do NOT expect you to become the first.
While this is a low risk situation, you still need to test. Jeff gave you the window period for testing information.
I fully expect you to test hiv negative - provided you haven't been having unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse with people you decided for some arbitrary reason are low or no risk. Unprotected intercourse with ANYONE is a risk unless you're mutually monogamous with them and have tested hiv negative together.
Regarding your symptoms, they could be caused by lots of things. Neither symptoms nor even the lack of symptoms will ever tell you a single thing about your hiv status. ONLY testing at the appropriate time will.
Many people never experience a single symptom of hiv seroconversion and that's one of the main reasons why so many people are walking around with undiagnosed hiv. They haven't a clue they have been infected and because most websites always talk about symptoms, they think they're ok because they feel fine. That's why we do NOT talk about symptoms. Their presence or absence are meaningless when it comes to risk assessments and hiv diagnosis. Again, ONLY testing will reliably inform you of your hiv status.
Don't bother asking about symptoms again, ok? Just keep yourself busy with other things while you wait for your six week test. Putting "hiv" into search engines will only crank up your anxiety levels and make you feel ill. Don't do that to yourself.
Ann