ARS symptoms after several sexual encounters

[frankie826]

I am a heterosexual male. Over the past 1.5 months I have had protected sex with sex workers on 5 occasions with the earliest being 25/11/2013 and the most recent being on the 21/12/2013. I wore a condom on all occasions but during the 1st encounter, the condom slipped and was hanging from her vagina when I withdrew my penis. I don't know whether it slipped during the intercourse or only as I removed my penis. I have also had no experience when it comes to condom breaking so I am abit paranoid for the other 4 occasions where I did not remove the condom on my own (the sex worker removed it and threw it away promptly). Hence, I did not get a chance to see if there has been any breakage.

A couple of days ago (5/1/2014) I came down with flu-like symptoms which included fever, dry cough, minor headache, slightly nausea, and minor muscle and joint aches. As of today (9/1/2014) I have recovered from all those symptoms except for the cough. Although the cough is getting better I expect it to last for a few more days. Also, I did not have any rash, swollen lymph nodes, or sore throat. Please advice whether I am at risk and the symptoms I mentioned relates to ARS. Thanks

[Jeff G]

A condom with a visible ring outside the vagina usually indicates it slipped off during withdrawal of the penis . When that happens you did not have a risk because the penetrative sex was protected . 

If you are unsure if you were inside her without the condom you could test for peace of mind at 6 weeks past any possible exposure and again at 3 months to confirm the results . Keep in mind that transmission risk is lower for the insertive partner and condom breaks and dipping of short duration rarely results in the transmission of HIV so you should expect a negative result if you feel you need to test .

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. 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!