POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: Guillermo Raiz on August 21, 2013, 10:32:49 am
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Hi. I had protected anal and vaginal sex with a girl.after that she gave me unprotected oral sex and also a hand job with a lot of genital secretions on her hand. I know that oral sex is not a risk and that vaginal secretions outside the body are not infectious. However some doctors say that protected vaginal or anal sex is a "low risk" activity. I just want to know if it's necessary to test after protected anal pr vaginal... And if it's really a low risk... Can you please explain why? Thanks
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Having protected vaginal or anal sex with condoms used consistently and correctly isn't low risk . its no risk . If condoms made for a low risk situation then there would be far more infections ... if you use them correctly they are 100 % effective in that specific sexual encounter .
Condoms do fail sometime , so if you were to refer to the condoms are a low risk statement out of context you could argue that there is a low risk that condoms some time do fail . Even with that , the top or insertive partner rarely test positive after a brief insertion from a broken condom .
You do not need to worry or test over this specific situation you outlined in your
post .
ALTHOUGH YOU DO NOT NEED HIV TESTING AT THIS TIME for this incident , 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!
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Thank you for your fast reply. My last question is about HIV Combo test ( that looks for antigen and antibodies ) ... In France, they say that if you use a COMBO test, your result is conclusive at 6 weeks only. In UK, they say that it's conclusive at 1 month only ( 28 days ). That because between 4-6 weeks, if not enough antibodies are produced by the body to be detectable, antigens would be detectable...And if you don't have antibodies or antigens in your blood... you were not infected.
I usually go to a private clinic that uses HIV combo test (4th generation test) and I pay to get the 4th generation test so I don't have to wait 3 months...
What is your opinion ? If I test negative with 4th generation test at 6 weeks, should I test again at 12 weeks ?
Thanks
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Thank you for your fast reply. My last question is about HIV Combo test ( that looks for antigen and antibodies ) ... In France, they say that if you use a COMBO test, your result is conclusive at 6 weeks only. In UK, they say that it's conclusive at 1 month only ( 28 days ). That because between 4-6 weeks, if not enough antibodies are produced by the body to be detectable, antigens would be detectable...And if you don't have antibodies or antigens in your blood... you were not infected.
I usually go to a private clinic that uses HIV combo test (4th generation test) and I pay to get the 4th generation test so I don't have to wait 3 months...
What is your opinion ? If I test negative with 4th generation test at 6 weeks, should I test again at 12 weeks ?
Thanks
Your assessment of your local clinic's HIV testing procedures is correct. Here at AIDSMEDS, since we are a global web site, we still go by the six weeks/three months gold standard, though hopefully soon that will change. We err on the side of caution because people don't always have access to the most advanced testing, and might not know enough about the tests they receive to determine the type of test.
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Thanks for your answer. I'll keep in mind that only unprotected vaginal and unprotected anal sex are considered a risk for HIV and that as long as condom is used, there is nothing to worry about. Last question about HIV testing. For the future, if I want to test as early as possible with a 4th generation test ( antibodies and antigens ) should I go at 4 or 6 weeks ? Where I live most clinics still use a 3rd generation test... So they say that we have to wait 3 months. But I go to a private clinic ... So I just want to know if it's 4 or 6 weeks to get a conclusive result? I mean... most people would either have antigens or antibodies by 4 weeks right ? so why wait 6 weeks? ...Thanks
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Thanks for your answer. I'll keep in mind that only unprotected vaginal and unprotected anal sex are considered a risk for HIV and that as long as condom is used, there is nothing to worry about. Last question about HIV testing. For the future, if I want to test as early as possible with a 4th generation test ( antibodies and antigens ) should I go at 4 or 6 weeks ? Where I live most clinics still use a 3rd generation test... So they say that we have to wait 3 months. But I go to a private clinic ... So I just want to know if it's 4 or 6 weeks to get a conclusive result? I mean... most people would either have antigens or antibodies by 4 weeks right ? so why wait 6 weeks? ...Thanks
While most people seroconvert within 22 days I honestly think you are pushing the science to take anything short of a six week 4th gen test as even close to definitive.
The way I see it, as you are testing for a no-risk incident, your belief in the result of that test is going to likely depend on your adherence to the guidelines. In a private clinic it's not a free test, and it's not at all unusual to see people test at four weeks, five weeks, six weeks, up to three months - and by that time the anxiety has manifested itself in "symptoms." It's a slippery road, that. I don't want to see you caught up in that.