Scared and Worried

[Ben]

Hi,
 
I had a sexual encounter on Sept 10th with a spanish Sex worker.Unfortunatly my condom was broken which i didn't notice.She too pretty much scared when she noticed that the condom was broken.

On Sept 26th i started having the symptoms of Primary HIV infection .Fever lasted for 2 days with cough and cold and then resolved. On Sept 30th i have started feeling slight pain in all my lymph nodes.

I have got the fear of Aids and consulted my GP. on Oct 4th,He has done Elisa,WesternBlot and PCR DNA.All came negative and Not Detected.He suggested me to have the final Elisa test at 13 weeks.

My Symptoms continued to last with  slight pain in lymph nodes (no swelling),allergy(itchy skin),white lesions in mouth  till Nov 1st and resolved.

On Nov 5th i had the Elisa 3rd generation HIV test again which came nagative after 8 weeks of exposure. Again i am going to have the test at 13 weeks.

Does PCR will be ok at this point of time to ease my tension.I am pretty much scared that i am infected with HIV .No sleep since one month.

What are the possibilities that i am infected with HIV as i have xperianced all the symptoms.Does PCR help detect the infection early at this point of time.

Please help.

.l

[RapidRod]

Either that doctor didn't know what he was doing or he just wanted your money. You should have waited till the 13 week to be tested then it's only an antibody test and then if the result was positive would they have done a western blot test. He even done a PCR DNA and that isn't even an approved diagnostic test.

[Andy Velez]

J, as Rod has told you, the PCR is not approved as a diagnostic test. However, it is a highly sensitive test which can often yield an accurate result within 48-72 hours after a possible exposure. Usually it's given at 28 days, but nevertheless that negative result you received a bit earlier is still encouraging, given that the average time to seroconversion is 22 days.

Ditto for your negative result at  8 weeks as very encouraging. All but the very smallest number of those who are going to seroconvert will do so within 4-6 weeks after an exposure to the HIV virus.

My expectation is that you will continue to test negative.

Make sure you continue to use a latex condom everytime you have intercourse and that the condoms fit you properly.

As for your symptoms, as worrisome as they understandably are, there is nothing HIV specific about them, and your negative test results point in the direction that HIV is not the issue here.

You should be discussing them with your doctor. I don't see this as an HIV situation.

Good luck with your 13 week test.

Cheers, 

 

[Ben]

Thanks for your encouraging and kind words Andy.I am waiting to cross my 13 weeks.
I will let you know the 13 weeks result ,once it is done.

Thanks again for your wish.

[Andy Velez]

OK. ALong with checking out your symptoms with your doctor, work on staying productively busy during the remaining waiting time. By doing that you may well be surprised at how much easier and faster the time can go.

Best of luck and expecting a negative result,