POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: worriedone on June 08, 2006, 12:55:14 pm
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Hi,
I was POKED(edited) by a syringe 7 weeks ago while I was picking up the can drink from the Soda Machine. I know to a lot of people this sounds like a some tale but this is no joke. Till now I still have muscle and joints pain. I did a blood test in week 4 that showed NEGATIVE but I had VDRL reactive at 1:16.
I've had these symptoms:
1. Muscle n joint pains
2. light lymph node swallon on neck n groin
3. rash in week 4 but was given penicilin as my VDRL is reactive. After that the rash has gone.
4. light fever which lasted for around 2 hours togather with muscle pain on my arm. This was during week 2.
My concern is since i've been tested NEGATIVE in week 4, what are my chances of testing POSITIVE in week 8 or 13?
Can someone tell me if all these are just symptoms of SYPHILIS or can it be HIV?
If i was infected with both SYPHILIS and HIV can it delay in the process for testing POSITIVE for HIV?
Can 8 weeks test be conclusive? I'm so scared n waiting is killing me... I just don't know what I can do. I've never had sex in my whole life. No drugs as well.
Worriedone
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You'll maintain your negative. You can not get syphilis by being pricked nor can you get HIV from a little prick by a needle.
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It's not a needle. It's a syringe, thats why I'm worried. All the symptoms are pointing towards it. If it's not from the syringe poking..how else I could have got my VDRL reactive at 1:16? Can this be something else???
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A syringe without a needle attached is just a syringe. You didn't get syphilis from what you described. You didn't say if it was HSV1 or HSV2. Why did your Dr. give you penicillin? Penicillin won't help for HSV.
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Your mind is running wild and pasting together some bits which are not based in HIV science to come up with a scary scenario.
Nothing you have written or are reporting in terms of symptoms suggests this is an HIV situation. So when you use a phrase like "everything points to HIV," well frankly, it's ridiculous. No kidding.
In the ordinary course of things I wouldn't even consider testing to be necessary for this situation. Given your state of anxiety I suppose (and hope) the inevitable negative test result will allow you to let go of this unfounded concern.
If you continue to have symptoms you should discuss them with your doctor. This is not an HIV situation. Period.
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Hi,
Actually I used a wrong word to discribe it. I would say not pricked but poked by the syringe. If it's not through the syringe poke how else my VDRL could show 1:16 ratio.
Can VDRL show 1:16 for any other infection other then secondary syphilis? My doctor asked me to take peniciln Jab to kill the bacteria. After the jab, my rash on arms and legs has disappreard. The rashes were only little where I had 3 on my arm and 2 on my thigh.
All my doctor said was to take a re-test on week 13. Please advice.
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i'm curious as to why you think you were pricked with a syringe in the first place. Either you know or you don't know.
However, any doubts about your status should be tested 12 weeks after possible exposure.
Really, we can't tell you anything more than that.
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Hi,
I was just wondering, If i had co-infection of Syphilis & HIV, will the formation of syphilis anti-body delay in the formation of HIV anti-body.
my test results came out +ve for VDRL but -ve for HIV in week 4.
regards
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I'm curious as to why you think you were pricked with a syringe in the first place. Either you know or you don't know.
However, any doubts about your status should be tested 12 weeks after possible exposure.
Really, we can't tell you anything more than that.
Not think actually, First when I poked, i didn't know what was it. When I picked it out I was really terrified. At that time it didn't occur to me that the blood would have some infection.
After that only I started having the muscle n joints pain along with fever which freaked me out. Along with that I had been getting other symptoms as I've said on my earlier post.
I know that i might be paranoid, but I'm so freaked out n sorry to trouble you guys. Yes I'll be getting a test on week 9 just for my satisfaction and another on week 13 for conclusive.
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worried,
If you truly were pricked by a needle/syringe, it's not hiv you need to test for (as hiv wouldn't be transmitted in this fashion), but you might want to test for hep C. Hep C is a much, much more easily transmitted virus and it is also much more prevalent in the injecting drug user community.
What you have brought to us is in no way an hiv situation. It might be a hepatitis C situation, but you will have to see your doctor about that. This is an hiv website, not hep C and not syphilis.
You did not have a risk of hiv infection.
Ann
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I am responding to your newest query, which you posted here:
http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=875.0 (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=875.0)
<<I was POKED(edited) by a syringe 7 weeks ago while I was picking up the can drink from the Soda Machine. I know to a lot of people this sounds like a some tale but this is no joke. Till now I still have muscle and joints pain. I did a blood test in week 4 that showed NEGATIVE but I had VDRL reactive at 1:16. >>
You were NOT infected with syphilis by a needle in a soda machine.
I hope that's been made clear.
You will NOT get HIV from being posked with a needle in a soda machine.
I hope thats been made clear.
If you DO have syphilis, it came from sexual activity. However, getting syphilis requires only contact with a lesion, or chancre. You can have protected sex and still get syphilis. The onlny way you are going to get HIV is through unprotected anal and/or vaginal sex, and perhaps, in excedingly rare situations, from receptive fellatio.
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Fine, the important question is
Assume if i get coninfection, syphilis & HIV. Can HIV make the treatment for syphilis fail? Is this possiblle?
For you info, I've never had any sexual activity in my entire life. I've checked with my doctor, he said it is possible if the syringe i was poked had blood.
regards
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I am sorry, that is NOT the important question. The important question is whether you had a risk.
You did not.
I am NOT going to discuss HIV's impact on the body in this forum. Not in this thread.
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Seek a mental health professional. You CAN NOT get Syphilis in the way you describe. No way, no how. No, HIV treatment will not make the treatment of Syphilis fail. You didn't have a risk and I have no idea why you are asking these questions. Is it because you are a wanna be? That's what you sound like.
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Actually, syphilis CAN be transmitted via blood. However, it is still very unlikely - but NOT impossible - that worriedone became infected with syphilis through what he describes.
Syphilis can also be transmitted through kissing someone who has a syphilis lesion in their mouth or any other contact with a syphilis lesion. It doesn't necessarily have to be sexual contact. Syphilis is highly contagious in the primary and secondary stages.
Worriedone, this is not a syphilis forum, it is an hiv forum. There is absolutely NO WAY you would have become infected with hiv through your needle incident, even if by some strange chance you did become infected with syphilis because of it.
You did NOT have a risk of hiv infection and there is nothing more we can do for you here.
Please continue to work closely with your doctor in order to resolve your syphilis concerns. We cannot help you with that.
And make sure you read through the Welcome Thread (http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=220.0), particularly the posting guideline section. There you will see the following: 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.
And please ask your doctor about your syphilis concerns. This is an hiv forum and as you had no risk of hiv, I'm afraid we can be of no further assistance to you.
Ann
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Sorry, Ann, I was counting kissing as sexual activity :)
<<You can get and spread syphilis through oral, anal, and vaginal sex or through other intimate sexual contact including kissing.>>
http://www.brown.edu/Student_Services/Health_Services/Health_Education/sexual_health/sti/syphilis.htm (http://www.brown.edu/Student_Services/Health_Services/Health_Education/sexual_health/sti/syphilis.htm)
I wonder if you could take a look at the chart halfway down the page here:
http://www.nursingceu.com/courses/114/index_nceu.html (http://www.nursingceu.com/courses/114/index_nceu.html)
The information here suggests that patient care-related needlestick injuries are not responsible for syphilis infections, but the risk comes from laboratory accidents and mishaps during autopsies.
Regardless, the AIDS needle in the public vending maching is an urban myth, and an old one:
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/payphone.asp (http://www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/payphone.asp)
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/gaspump.asp (http://www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/gaspump.asp)
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/madmen/pinprick.asp (http://www.snopes.com/horrors/madmen/pinprick.asp)
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Well Jonathan, sometimes kissing is sexual and sometimes it ain't! ;)
The rashes of secondary syphilis are also infectious and highly so, especially when found in the mouth. Syphilis is highly infectious all round (except in the tertiary stage) and is probably why many States still insist on syphilis screening before marriage licenses are issued. It is entirely possible to be exposed to syphilis without engaging in sexual activity, although this is a fairly rare occurrence and syphilis remains primarily a sexually transmitted infection. It's a bad bugger to be sure!
Ann
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Hi Ann,
Thanks for you reply and sorry for all the mess. Since u said that Syphilis is possible to be transmitted via blood why not HIV? It's surely a relieve to read what you have said. If one can be transmitted via Blood how come HIV can't?
Anyway, i know there is no use of me keep asking only my week 9 test will show something. If -ve then next would be week 13 and will stop there.
Thanks
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If one can be transmitted via Blood how come HIV can't?
Worried,
Because they're two totally different organisms and behave in different ways, that's why. It's a bit like asking "If a trout can swim, why can't a sparrow?"
The vast majority of people who have actually been infected with hiv will seroconvert and test positive by six weeks. Your nine week negative result means that it is highly, extremely unlikely that you are infected with hiv.
But then you never had a risk in the first place - and it's also very unlikely that you became infected with syphilis from this experience either.
I also can't help but wonder if your syphilis test wasn't messed up through lab error. Have you considered having another test just to be certain the first one was correct? Have you explained to your doctor that you are not sexually active?
Ann
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Hi Ann,
Actually I did two test for the syphilis and is it confirmed. Even my doctor asked me if I've had any sexual activity. I told him I've never had any. He said that it's highly possible the syringe might have had some blood.
I've not done my week 9 test. I'll be doing it this monday. I'm praying it would be -ve too. However my week 5 test came out -ve,which I think it's 90% likely would be -ve in week 9 or 13 right? I never paid much attention to the syringe thinking it's just a poke and i'll be fine until I had terrible muscle n joint pain on my hand and my hand of very hot. really hot. Even my friends got scared.
Then reading through the internet added more fear to me. Now after the medication for syphilis I would have been ok only that i'm seeing new rashes made me more worried when a friend said that there are possibility if I had HIV infection it can make my syphilis treatment fail.
I know i sound paranoid but thats how my situation is. Imagine, I've never had sex in my life and now i'm having syphilis. :'(. How do you think I would feel everytime someone says no way needle can give u syphilis. who would ever trust me??
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And with that, I respectfully withdraw from the conversation.
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By the way, there's something here I need to clarify. Blood can transmit hiv, but not blood that's been lying around, whether out in the open or trace amounts on the tip of a needle. Hiv is a very fragile virus that quickly becomes too damaged to infect when it is outside the human body. It needs exact environmental conditions and the slightest changes in temperature, pH or moisture levels will render it useless.
Syphilis is a bacteria and it is also very sensitive to changes in environment. I really rather doubt that the needle stick was your source of syphilis infection for this reason.
There are several types of syphilis caused by subtypes of the Treponema pallidum bacteria that causes syphilis. You might want to ask your doctor if you might actually have something called Yaws.
Yaws, caused by T pallidum subsp pertenue, predominates in the tropical areas of Africa, South America, India, Indonesia, and the Pacific Islands. Its highly contagious nature is indicated by an estimated 50 million cases worldwide. Transmission occurs through nonsexual human-to-human contact. Most cases are in children and adolescents. In endemic areas, 75 percent of the population contract yaws before reaching 20 years of age.
As I understand it, a syphilis test would not differentiate between the two (sub)types.
But anyway, this is not a syphilis website. It is an hiv forum and you didn't have a risk for hiv.
Ann
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Hi all,
Thanks for you help and patients with me and all my worries. My week 9 test for HIV came back -ve. However my VDRL has increased.
I'm not sure if it's ok for me to ask this here, can someone suggest me any forums for syphilis as I really need a lot of information on this.
Sorry for the trouble i've caused. Hope you'll can help me.
Thanks
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worried,
I don't know of any syphilis forums, sorry.
Have you talked to your doctor about Yaws? If you aren't getting satisfactory answers from your doctor about your syphilis problem, maybe it's time to seek a second opinion.
There's no surprise that your hiv test came back negative as you didn't have a risk of hiv infection to begin with.
Ann