POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: navjarl on December 11, 2007, 02:53:34 pm
-
Hello, I write from Europe, so I'm sorry my English is not very good.
I had a single exposure with a sexworker 4 months ago (unprotected for 1-2 minutes), her status was unknown. This has been the only esposure. After that, I took several tests:
- 1,2 & 3 months ELISA tests: all of them negative
- A rapid test (20 min.) after 114 days/16 weeks: negative
- A PCR qualitative test after 16 weeks: negative.
But the last week (after 4 months) I have developed several symptoms: a big sore throat, very high temperature, night sweats... I had to go to ER
to receive some antibiotics, it was something like a big flu.
I also tested for Hep B/C and they were negative, both of them.
1. Do you think that these results are conclusive? Can I be sure that HIV is not my problem? I'm afraid about all these symptoms now, 4 months after the exposure.
2. Is the 4 month mark conclusive for Hep C and Hep B? I have read so many opinions and some say 4 months is the limit, some others say it is 3 months, 6 months...I'm confused about the window period for HBV.
3. Could this be ARS after 4 months and a late seroconversion?
Thank you very much for your help and all the knowledge you give in this forum.
-
Symptoms mean nothing when it comes to diagnosing HIV, only HIV antibody testing performed at the right time can give a conclusive result.
You can be sure that you don't have HIV infection. Your tests show that you are HIV negative.
MtD
-
Thank you matty, only 2 more questions:
- what about the question about Hep B and Hep C? Can I be sure that 4 months is conclusive??
- When do ARS symptoms appear?? What is the week after the exposure? Is it possible 4 months after it or is it too late?
Thank you again
-
4 months is far too late for ARS.
The window period for hepatitis C is 6 months, but you will not have contracted it from this sexual encounter so you can consider that negative result to be reliable too. As for hepatitis B, it's "window period" is a more complicated issue, but your result shows that you are negative for that as well.
Please note we are an HIV specific site, hepatitis really isn't in our remit. You should raise your specific concerns about hepatitis with your doctor.
You do not have HIV infection.
MtD
-
Thank you very much for your help again, MtD. I promise this is the very last question:
I'm very worried about this symptoms and the window period. In theory, 3 months is conclusive but CDC says that "after 3 months, 97% of people...", this means that 3 out of 100 people who test negative after 3 months will test positive later (!!!). This is why I'm going to become crazy and I would like to know that my tests are conclusive.
I know that in medicine there is no 0%-100% but that 3% is, in my opinion, too inconclusive. I have also taken the PCR quantitative test after 4 months. In theory, if after 4 months I hadn't tested positive yet, it should have picked it because it is in my DNA, right? So, I supose that it is a conclusive result but all the discussions about the window period... you have seen a lot of cases, have you ever seen a 3 month negative turn positive later, in the 6 month mark, with a single unprotected exposure?
I am sorry for all this replies, but I would like to know that it is conclusive and the window period is "over".
Thank you very much again for your help to all.
-
Nav,
Just settle down kid. You've blown all of this way out of proportion.
PCR testing is not approved for diagnostic purposes so you shouldn't have had it performed in the first place, but let's put that to one side. I'll make this simple:
1. You had a very, very low risk encounter. HIV is a fragile virus which is difficult to transmit especially from female to male.
2. You tested antibody negative 3 months after this event.
Therefore you are HIV negative. All that other testing confirms this result but was entirely unnecessary.
You aren't special. You're not going to be a late seroconverter. You don't have HIV.
In closing allow me to direct you to our Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=220.0). In there you'll find our posting guidelines as well as links to our testing and transmission lessons.
MtD
-
Hello, 4 months ago I had a single exposure with a sexworker (unprotected for 1 minute, maybe less). I took several tests, after 2 and 3 months, all of them negative.
4 months after this, there was a stand for free testing (the typical 20 minutes test with a puncture in your index finger, and then take a small drop of blood and put it in the test). It was organized by an association which does so every week, it's an association related to AIDS help, which offers free testing for everybody.
Just to be sure, I went there and I took the rapid test of 20 minutes. When the girl took a new needle (something like a small pin for the finger), she used it in my finger and then put the blood in the small piece of "paper". The result was, of course, negative. So by then I had a 4 month negative test and I tried to go on and continue with my life.
Exactly 2 weeks after this, I developed several ARS symptoms: high temperature, a very big sore throat, white tongue, etc. I had to take antibiotics and go to ER for this, which is very similar to a big flu.
Now I think about that day and I am sure that the girl who did the test to me, used for me a needle from another patient (the previous one in the queue), and it's possible that I was infected from this incident. Yes, I know that it sounds like crazy, but there was a big amount of them of the table and she didn't threw the old ones to the rubbish, she just was a volunteer, not a nurse or a medical expert.
I just wanted to ask: supossing that this happened (OK, although everyone may think that this is impossible), what are the odds of being infected if the previous person was HIV+? I have read about needle stick injuries in hospitals, but what is the risk for a small pin which punctures the finger of a person, then remains on the table for 2 minutes and is used again with me in my finger?
Thank you very much, a donation will be made again.
P.D. I am sorry for my bad English, it's not my mother tongue
-
Nav,
I've merged your new thread into your original thread - where you should post all your additional thoughts or questions. It helps us to help you when you keep all your additional thoughts or questions in one thread.
If you need help finding your thread when you come here, click on the "Show own posts" link under your name in the left-hand column of any forum page.
Please also read through the Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=220.0) so you can familiarize yourself with our Forum Posting Guidelines. Thank you for your cooperation.
YOU ARE HIV NEGATIVE.
You would not have been infected through taking the test. No way.
We're in the middle of cold and flu season. If you feel ill, go see your doctor. Whatever is going on with you has NOTHING to do with hiv.
You do not have hiv.
Ann
-
Thank you very much Ann, I know that it may sound hypochondriac but, the fact is that the girl DIDN'T THREW THE OLD PINS/NEEDLES!! This is was is getting me mad. If I had gone to a clinic or a hospital, OK, it would have been different. But she was only a volunteer (of course doing an incredible job for free), and she mixed the old pins with the not-used ones.
2 minutes before me, there was another boy who had taken the test. Do you really think that the risk for a pin poke is nonoexistent? Even if it was used for an HIV+ person?
-
As you were told on the other forum that you are going around posting the same question. It's rubbish.
-
Nav,
Not one person has ever been infected with a lancet. They use lancets, not needles for this type of testing.
Furthermore, not one person has ever become infected from taking an hiv test and you will not be the first.
It sounds as though your hiv anxiety is running away with you. Please make an appointment with a mental health care professional to help you cope with this anxiety. We cannot do that for you here.
Ann
-
Tnak you rapidrod, this means no risk? Should I stop worrying?
-
Nav,
NO RISK!
Please read our forum posting guidelines, you know, the one's you've been asked to read? Pay particular attention to this one:
Anyone who continues to post excessively, questioning a conclusive negative result or no-risk situation, will be subject to a four week Time Out (a temporary ban from the Forums). The purpose of a Time Out is to encourage you to seek the face-to-face help we cannot provide on this forum.
Please consider yourself warned.
Ann
-
Hello, I'm sorry for my English, it is not my mother tongue...My question is:
I had a single exposure with a female sexworker, the condom broke for about 10 seconds, maybe less, and when I noticed I changed it immediately. I began to visit this forum and I learnt a lot.
So, I took an ELISA test 2 months after the exposure (negative), another one at the three month mark (negative) and another two (PCR test and Rapid-20min-test) after 110 days. It was negative too, so following your advice, I thought it was conclusive.
One week after the last test (125 days aprox. after the single exposure) I developed horrible symptoms: I went to the doctor, and I had high temperature for 1-2 days, sore throat, big cold symptoms, etc. I had never had such a big symptoms in the last 5 years. He treated me with antibiotics for 10 days, and I was a bit better, but my sore throat continued and he diagnosed a big tonsillitis, with Group A streptococcal bacteria. This symptoms lasted, in total, for 3 weeks.
1. Do you think that Streptococcus and these symptoms could be related to late seroconversion?
2. Are my 3 month-mark tests conclusive? Or should I retest after 6 months? (I hope not...)
3. You are experts and have seen many cases. Have you ever seen a 3 month negative turn positive later?
I don't want to disturb you anymore, but the "famous" 3 month mark vs. 6 month mark is killing me. In 5 years, or more, I have never had such a big symptoms, I haven't had high temperature, and I have never had a Streptococcus with tonsillitis. I think about the "97% of people..." statement and I would like to be sure that my results are definitive and conclusive (last test after 110 days).
Thank you again for your patience and help.
-
Please keep all your additional thoughts, questions and comments in your original thread. (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=17752.0) This helps us to follow your story and give you the most accurate advice.
If you can't find you original thread click on the red link I've provided above. Alternatively you can click on the "show own posts" link in the left hand column of any forums page.
Your questions will not be answered until you return to your original thread.
MtD
-
Nav,
I've merged your new thread into your original thread - where you should post all your additional thoughts or questions. It helps us to help you when you keep all your additional thoughts or questions in one thread.
If you need help finding your thread when you come here, click on the "Show own posts" link under your name in the left-hand column of any forum page.
Please also read through the Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=220.0) so you can familiarize yourself with our Forum Posting Guidelines. Thank you for your cooperation.
Your throat infection has NOTHING to do with hiv. You are conclusively hiv negative. You don't need further hiv testing.
Keep posting to question your conclusive test result and I'll give you the time out I've warned you about.
Ann