POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: jdmissouri on August 21, 2013, 03:02:17 am
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4 Weeks ago I visited a CSW and had protected sex. Due to the state of inebriation I was in, I was struggling to maintain an erection and subsequently ended up masturbating with the help of the CSW and finishing in the condom. I had a fresh scratch on the back of my hand (a few hours old) at the time so it is possible some vaginal fluids may have touched the scratch. A week or so later I started to get swelling of my lymph nodes and a sore throat. At the two week point, my throat started to get worse and I developed a low grade fever. The fever cleared up in a couple of days and I started to improve. Now at almost four weeks, my throat is starting to hurt significantly and I am flushed in the face. I went and had a HIV test (4 weeks post incident) yesterday and I am sweating on the results. I know that using a condom is low risk, so am I scared over nothing?
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jd,
You have NOT had a risk for hiv infection. You did the only thing you needed to do - you wore a condom for anal or vaginal intercourse.
Condoms have been proven to prevent hiv infection. There have been three long-term studies of couples where one is positive and one is negative. In the couples who used condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, but no barrier for oral activities, not one of the negative partners became infected with hiv. Not one.
Hiv is a fragile, difficult to transmit virus that is primarily transmitted INSIDE the human body, as in unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse where the virus never leaves the confines of the two bodies.
Once outside the body, small changes in temperature, and pH and moisture levels all quickly damage the virus and render it unable to infect. For this reason, it doesn't matter if vaginal fluids got on your cut.
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.
ALTHOUGH YOU DO NOT NEED TO TEST FOR HIV OVER THIS SPECIFIC SITUATION, 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!
Ann