POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: stupid kid on January 17, 2009, 08:09:31 pm
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please help andy or ann, here is my story bear with me! on the 6dec 08 i had a very drunken one night stand, unprotected vaginal sex with a 21 year old irish girl i met in a nightclub in dublin ireland, i am 30 year old uncircumcised straight white guy. i am worried sick because, at 4 weeks later i went the doctors and had a full std blood screen and swabs taken which came back all clear for everything about 1 week later.
how accurate is the elisa at 4 weeks post exposure? 80% 90%?
the doctor says i am low risk is this true? would you agree very low risk?
i am so scared!!! i have started getting aches in my legs six weeks after incident,.. but i have had no sort of rash, vomiting, or swollen nodes?
please answer my questions to the best of your ability...
i cant eat, i cant sleep, all i can think about is this!! please help??
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A four week ELISA is not reliable. You put yourself at risk by having unprotected vaginal sex. Get your conclusive test result at 3 months. Next time use a condom.
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Hey Kid,
There is nothing in anyway HIV-specific about the symptoms you are describing. If they continue that's something to discuss further with your doctor.
HIV is a fragile virus and not easily transmitted. It is harder for it to be transmitted from female to male than the other way around. You had a single incident of possible exposure. The average time to seroconversion is 22 days. All but the very smallest number of those who are going to seroconvert will do so within 4-6 weeks after an exposure.
The odds are in your favor that you're going to continue to test negative.
However, you need to learn from this experience. You can have intercourse with anyone regardless of their HIV status. But you need to do it the safer way which means that anytime you have vaginal or anal intercourse, you always without exception wear a condom. Then you will be well protected.
Good luck with your test at 13 weeks. Odds are you're going to come through ok.
Cheers.
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thanks andy,
for your speedy response.. you are a very helpful and informative guy and have calmed me down somewhat.
i know you say most people will seroconvert in 22 days? what exactly does this mean?
is my 4 week neg elisa blood test a good indicator?
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Seroconversion is the development of detectable antibodies to HIV in the blood as a result of infection. When antibodies to HIV appear in the blood, a person will test positive for HIV.
Yes, of course any negative test result is a happy thing. You're still not in the clear totally until you test negative at 13 weeks. But taking all of the details of what you have reported and that negative result, I do expect you to continue to test negative.
Cheers.