Worried in Asia - please help!

[shaman]

Dear all,
I'm new to this forum...unfortunately not to the anxiety part.
Well, here comes my question: Went to Singapore on a business trip and drank much too much. Ended up in some dance club with lots of "friendly" ladies. Found myself with a Vietnamese one later back in my room...
Well, as far as I remember, I used a condom and used it correctly (however, let's take the worse case scenario and say it wasn't used correctly...since I was strongly intoxicated). We had vag intercourse for about 15 - 20 minutes until I came. I pulled back than and found that she was on her first day of period...quite a lot of blood was over the condom and over my pubic area. I washed it away with a towel and I think I sprayed some anti-germ stuff on my penis and the area. Two days later my penis was nicely red and skin flaked off (I guess anti germ stuff and penis don't go together well). So far so good. I was already panicked a lot because of the blood. My anxiety level is somewhere close to the 100% mark... However, 3 days after the exposure I got a permanent burning on my penis which seems to change form urethra to the surface of the skin. There I also found a red area (doesn't look like pimples, yet...). The red area is gone after 2 more days but the burning continues.

Well, I would appreciate if you guys could help me with your knowledge.
1. What do you think is my risk of contracting HIV - given she was a SW and the blood? - How do the odds change if a condom was used vs not used?
2. What are my chance of contracting Herpes?
3. I'm planning to get tested at the 3 week mark - that should be about 70 - 80% reliable? (I will get another test at 6 weeks).
4. When is it appropriate to test for Herpes?

Thank s a million!!

[Ann]

shaman,

Condoms have been proven to prevent hiv infection, even in the presence of menstrual blood. It doesn't matter that some got on your pubic area, because hiv cannot infect through your skin. If you used the condom incorrectly, you would have known because the condom would have broken. A broken condom is very noticeable - you would have seen that it had broken when you took it off. Please read through the condom and lube links in my signature line.

The burning on your penis is very likely to be the result of the antibacterial stuff you sprayed on it, but get it checked out by a doctor. We cannot possibly tell you what it is - a doctor has to look at it.

A test at three weeks is pretty much a waste of time unless the antibody test is bundled with a p24 antigen test. For more information on the various tests, read the Welcome Thread and follow the Lessons links.

The vast majority of people who have actually been infected will seroconvert and test positive by six weeks, with the average time to seroconversion being 22 days. In the case of an actual risk (you didn't have one, you used a condom) a negative result as six weeks must be confirmed at the three month point.

While you don't need to test over this specific protected 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.

I fully expect you to come out of this hiv negative.

Ann

[shaman]

Dear Ann,

thank you very much for your answer and it is very comforting... I guess from all your experience you understand that I can't put my worries to rest 100%, yet, but I already feel better and just hope I won't catch a cold in between that would seriously remind me of ARS 

If possible, I would appreciate if you could maybe help me with answering also my following questions:

1. Since I live in a still developing country at the moment, I don't really trust their HIV testing. I will go to Germany on a business trip in 7 days and could be tested there at the mark of 22 days after exposure (I don't know if I can find DUO tests there). Does it make sense?

2. I will be in the US, Las Vegas (No wrong thoughs, it is also a business trip) in 6 weeks which would be the holy mark for reliable testing. How can I test there (how can I find a place beforehand?) and how much is testing including the whole battery of STD tests in the US?

Again, thank you very much, I highly appreciate your help and I will definitely coma back and post the outcome - which is hopefully "no infection" and will help others to put their anxiety to rest.

[shaman]

Dear Ann,

sorry for this add on. I just got a mail from a German clinic that I contacted and they said they could perform a HIV-PCR for me (with me). This would be at the 22nd day mark.
Is such a test reliable? (Please see this question independent from your first opinion that the encounter was save anyway). If it is a reliable test it would absolutely put my mind at rest if it comes out negative and I would also just ask the clinic to do all the other STD tests to have them out of the way.

What is your opinoin?

Thank you very much

[411]

Shaman
As Ann has already pointed out, you didn't need to test in the first place. However PCR testing is very accurate but can be prone to false positives. Since you are looking for piece of mind and if you can accept the small possibility of false positive then a PCR around 28 days would be very accurate. A negative PCR, which I would expect in your case, would be an all clear and negate having to wait out the 13 weeks for an antibody test.

Normally, for someone experiencing a risk, it would be explained that a negative PCR needs to be folllowed up with a negative antibody test at 13 weeks as PCRs are not approved as a diagnostic tool. However, with your non risk encounter, a negative PCR would be conclusive and if it puts your mind to rest then go ahead and get it.

[shaman]

Dear 411,

thanks for the reassurance. I have read a little about PCR testing and canceled the test, since it seems that the false positive chance is small but still... I decided to go for a normal antibody test at 4 weeks now, which should be around 80 - 90% conclusive...right? This will already give me some peace to take a final follow up test at 6 - 8 weeks.

[Andy Velez]

I agree with Ann that testing is not necessary. Despite how dramatic and alarming blood can be when you see it unexpectedly in such a situation, the condom you were wearing would have protected you even IF the person you were with is HIV+. And that's not certain by the way.

The average time to seroconversion is 22 days. All but the smallest number of those who are going to seroconvert will do so within 4-6 weeks after an exposure to the HIV virus. A negative test result at 12-13 weeks is considered conclusive.

HIV is not an easy virus to transmit. It's significantly harder to accomplish from female to male. Given that you were wearing a condom, we wouldn't even consider you to have been at risk in this situation.

In fact the only thing I would say was risky in general is that you were having casual sex while drunk. That is a dangerous thing to do because it can often lead to unsafe sex. But thankfully it didn't in this case. Go ahead and test if you must for your peace of mind. I certainly expect you will  test negative.

Cheers,

[shaman]

Dear all,

your answers really helped to calm me down and I was basically leveled with myself...
Last week however, I was hit by a pretty bad rash that started at the neck, then at the cheeks and finally both arms were hit (nothing on the trunk ... ). It was a pretty dark red rash, however, not with clear bordered patches but more diffuse (I usually have dry skin, however, never such a bad rash). I have been traveling overseas and have been stressed in general pretty bad lately ... means, I'm trying to rationalize the rash but  the fear it might be HIV or something else hits me again and again and again. The doctor gave me some anti-allergy pills and some steroid pills and those helped to clear up the rash substantially, however, it is coming back a little now. I also developed some Herpes on my mouth ... I'm really stressed!
As I said I'm trying to calm myself and rationalize everything but it is hard and I would appreciate all comments.
I have also set up a check for HIV, Syphilis, HPV II, Hep. C... in 2 weeks to finally set my mind to rest. I hope everything will go well... and/but before I have to get through these 2 weeks.

Thanks a lot for this forum, just being able to write down these things and get an educated opinion on them is a great help!

[shaman]

Dear all,

me again... as I said I was stressed and I was not happy about that. I took the plunge and went to an HIV test (in the time between now and my previous post). Today is exactly 4 weeks after the incidence with the blood +- a couple of hours. I know this test is not conclusive but my nerves feel better!!!
I will still take the test at 6 weeks with all the other tests included to make sure everything is ok.
From what I know, the 4 week test is about 90% - 95% conclusive, right? That together with your initial suggestion that I was not at a great risk anyway should put my mind much more at ease, right?

Again thank you for this forum and the opportunity to talk (well, write) about these fears without being considered ridiculous or being judged in a negative way.

I would still really appreciate your comments.

[Ann]

Shaman,

I'm fully expecting you to test negative. You used a condom and as I already told you, condoms protect even in the presence of blood. You didn't have a risk for hiv.

Ann