Risk assessment--CSW encounter

[pitas]

Hi. Had an encounter with a CSW in Asia 33 days ago. I'm male. Had vaginal sex with her. I had a latex condom on before and afterwards it was on and intact. Didn't slip off. I get this is low risk. Did a oral test (oraquick in home) last week on day 29. Negative. Any reason to worry? Any need to test again? When?

I've had pretty nonspecific symptoms (if you can call them that) over the last 2.5 weeks. Not all at once. A bit of a rash on my face since day 17. Feeling like a sore throat is coming but not really comes for about a week. White tongue since day 16. No fever. I know symptoms are not useful but just telling for sake of full info.

So what do you think? Would appreciate your candid thoughts. Thanks!

[Jeff G]

You did not have a risk for HIV having vaginal sex with a correctly used condom , correctly meaning the condom was intact and did not break .

You didn't have a low risk you had a no risk , if this is your only exposure concern , then you could not possibly have contracted HIV .

The testing window for HIV is 6 weeks post exposure and again at 3 months to confirm the results . If you haven't had unprotected vaginal or anal sex in the last 3 months since your recent negative HIV test you are conclusively HIV negative and do not need to test again over this incident .

 
ALTHOUGH YOU DO NOT NEED FURTHER 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!

[pitas]

Thanks for your reply. Sounds like this is no risk and therefore no need for testing. In the three months prior to the negative 29-day test the only sex I had was that one time. I'd actually had a negative hiv test about two months ago also (annual checkup). So, in the clear? I guess so.

One last question. When you talk about condoms working as long as they are intact and don't break, is that all that could go wrong? Some health agencies and research put condoms at less than 100% effectiveness. I'm assuming that's because those stats take into account failure. But is failure only breaking/not staying intact?

Thanks!

[Jeff G]

You are correct . If you engage in vaginal or anal sex and and the condom doesn't break you have had protected sex and no exposure to HIV .

Condoms are designed in such a way as to shred or have gaping holes in them when they fail . They are designed that was so as to leave no doubt that it failed .

We get people here who fill condoms with water before and after sex to check and see if it has leaks . That technique is useless and ends up damaging a perfectly good condom and can lead to condom failure or if its done after intercourse and they bust it fiddling around with it and freak out thinking they had a risk when they did not . Don't do the water test with condoms , its not necessary .   

Check out the condom and lube link at the bottom of my page here , there is good information there about condoms .

Lastly , condoms do fail sometime from using improper lube or rough sex , that's where the statement condoms don't work 100 % of the time comes from . The facts are established and clear , if you use condoms consistently and correctly you will avoid HIV , its beautifully simple .