I'm sure that I've hiv.

[matoxx]

Hi,

I'm 21 years old and in May I had sex with a sex worker. She putted me a condom(it wasn't mine, but was of the sex worker). After the sex, I checked with the eyes the condom, that seems not broken.
After 28 days I had the ARS symptoms: fever for 6 days at 101,fatigue,headache,enlarged tonsils. I've pain on the left of the abdomen, so I go to the hospital, where they checked my blood that showed high liver enzymes and a echography showed an enlarged spleen.
They don't thinked at hiv and I come back at home, and high liver and splenomegaly come back normal in 1-2 months.
I knew that was impossible took hiv with a condom, so I had thinked that the SW maybe was hiv+(I remember that she had a strange abdomen, maybe was lipodystrophy?) so I had thinked that she had pierce with a needle the condom before my arrive, for infected me with a very micro hole.(I remember also that after the sex, she looked the condom on my penis)

So after some months of fear and cries, I went to the hospital and I had a test at 5 months from the encounter(elisa+p24)
This hiv test come back negative.

1)Are my symptoms typical of ARS, right?
2)Can my test be a false negative? I do repeat it? I've only this test at 5 months.
3)I've fear, I think that I've hiv.

Please help me.

[Matty the Damned]

I'm sure that you don't have HIV. For two reasons:

1. You had protected sex;
2. Your five month negative ELISA result is absolutely conclusive.

You're HIV negative.

HIV cannot be diagnosed from symptoms or a persons appearance (ie you thinking that the sex worker has lypodystrophy) rather HIV is diagnosed by having an antibody test performed at the appropriate time.

Your 5 month test, as I mentioned above, is conclusive. You have not returned a false negative.

If you're feeling ill, see your doctor.

MtD

[matoxx]

HIV cannot be diagnosed from symptoms or a persons appearance (ie you thinking that the sex worker has lypodystrophy) rather HIV is diagnosed by having an antibody test performed at the appropriate time.

Your 5 month test, as I mentioned above, is conclusive. You have not returned a false negative.

hi matty, thanks for the help. I'm scared about the specific symptoms, they are too specific(searching on the web) for be safe, and I've fear.

Do you know or have read about someone that had a false negative?

[Matty the Damned]

False negatives are astonishingly rare. In general the only people who take longer than 13 weeks to test antibody positive are cancer patients on certain kinds of chemotherapy, transplant patients who are receiving immunosuppressive therapy and some long term injecting drug users.

I feel I can say without fear of contradiction that you are not from any of those groups.

Your symptoms are not specific to HIV infection because you are HIV negative. As I pointed out to you earlier, you tested negative because you were never exposed to the virus in the first place. Protected sex is just that, protected.

At this point I am obliged to direct your attention to our Welcome Thread and suggest that you familiarise yourself with our posting guidelines which state:

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.

Thank you,

MtD

[Andy Velez]

Feelings are not facts.

Using a condom for intercourse is a fact. Condoms provide very effective protection against HIV transmission.  A negative test result is a fact. You have more than reliably tested negative for HIV.

Just because you had sex with a professional doesn't change any of those facts. Many men experience a lot of anxiety and guilt about having been with a sex worker. That's a separate issue and it doesn't alter the facts of the situation as far as HIV is concerned.

You are HIV negative. Period. End of story.

[matoxx]

I read about 0.3% of false negative, so I was worried for this %.

thanks for the precious help, I don't want post excessively.

[Andy Velez]

You are HIV negative. Period. End of story.

[matoxx]

thanks again andy.

[Andy Velez]

You're welcome. It's time to get on with your life.

Enjoy and keep fresh latex condoms handy and use them everytime for intercourse.

Cheers,