What are the stats? Am I being paranoid?

[Helix2]

Hello everyone and thanks in advance for taking the time to read this!

I'm a female, and I've experienced what I believe are ARS symptoms. I won't go into details as to what they were, because I know that symptoms are not a sign of infection, nor is the absence of them a sign that you are not infected. What I will say is that my symptoms occurred in the correct window period and I experienced nearly all the symptoms usually associated with ARS. I will also say now that I plan on getting tested asap, and I am coming here for advice/risk assessment not based on symptoms.

I have done hours of reading into the subject, but I can't seem to find anything on my statistical risk.

What I mean is that I know that the activities I participated in are high risk, but I believed my partner was low risk. Because of this, we decided getting him tested was not necessary before the first time we had sex.

Am I being paranoid? Even though what I did was risky, was my partner actually low-risk, therefore putting odds in my favor?

[Ann]

Helix,

You need to understand that PEOPLE are not high or low or no risk, ACTIVITIES are high or low or no risk. The man from whom I acquired my infection did not fall into the alleged "high risk" categories, yet he unknowingly had hiv. It's not WHO you do, it's HOW you do it. To avoid hiv infection, you MUST use condoms with ANYONE whose hiv status you do not know.

Sexually speaking, the only TRUE risk group is that group of people who have unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse with people of unknown or positive hiv status.

Unprotected receptive anal and vaginal intercourse are the highest risk activities you can participate in so yes, you most definitely have been at risk and you most definitely do need to test.

The earliest you should test is at six weeks after your last incident of unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse with anyone. The vast majority of people who have actually been infected will seroconvert and test positive by six weeks, with the average time to seroconversion being only 22 days. A six week negative is highly unlikely to change, but must be confirmed at the three month point.

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.

Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently, and you will avoid hiv infection. It really is that simple!


Stop fretting about stats - they're meaningless when it comes to assessing risks in individual cases. They're only useful from an epidemiological point of view.

What matters in your case is that you've been at risk and you need to test at the appropriate time.

Ann

[Helix2]

Thanks for the reply, Ann. I agree with what you've said. It was a foolish decision and I was exposing myself to high risk situations, and I will get tested.

My question was leaning towards the stats because the numerous other forums and sites I browsed through had others replying to those like me about how non-drug users, heterosexuals, etc, put the odds more-so in their favor of testing negative, and also pointing out that HIV wasn't as widespread in places like North America.

Playing devil's advocate for a moment; Wouldn't the fact that female-to-male transmission having lower transmission rates per sexual exposure/episode than male-to-female, and the fact that this partner had less sexual partners than the average American make this "lower risk", simply based on a lottery-type statistical standpoint? The chances of this partner having been infected is, in this example, lower than a bisexual, someone who has been an IV drug user, or someone with a higher number of sexual partners.

I understand that a single exposure is all that is needed to contract HIV, and that a person cannot be high or low risk, but their track record of activities can make them higher or lower risk, based on the aforementioned reasoning. This isn't to say that a never-done-drugs, never-had-a-homosexual-exposure, American male can't have HIV, but the odds would be more-so in his favor, no?

[Ann]

Helix,

There is absolutely NO point in talking stats. That one person in however many who became infected is still a real human being - who may have thought they were at low risk because of those types of stats.

Like I told you before, the man from whom I acquired my infection didn't fall into any of the alleged high risk categories and we had no real reason to believe he might have been hiv positive - but he was.

Forget about stats and the popular so-called risk groups. The ONLY true risk group is that group of people who have unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse with persons of unknown or positive hiv status. And woman, you and your boyfriend both fall into that risk group.

The bottom line here is that you have both been at risk for hiv infection and you BOTH need to test to find out for certain whether you are hiv negative or hiv positive.

Stop trying to put odds on your life and your health. This isn't a horserace and if you keep playing the odds the way you have, chances are good that you'll end up hiv positive.

Go test. Do it. Stop quibbling about meaningless stats and GO TEST. BOTH of you. GO TEST!!!!

Am I scaring you? Good, you should be scared. Hiv is nothing to play russian roulette with and that is exactly what you're doing. GO TEST. It's the ONLY way to know your hiv status.

Ann

[Helix2]

Thanks again for your reply, Ann. And as I have mentioned before, I do plan on being tested asap.