Made a BIG mistake

[stresed]

Hi All,

My story takes place in South africa.

Last Thursday night i had way too much to drink and myself and a friend ended up at a strip club. When the strip club closed we decided to go to the "club" above. Anyway while having vaginal sex with one of the sex workers my condom broke. I had sex with her for approximately 5 minutes, i dont know at what point the condom broke. I did not climax, so i dont think i need to worry abut getting her pregnant?

Having seen the broken condom she assured me that they go for tests every 6 weeks, this was confirmed by the owner of the establishment. That said i suppose all it takes is for her to have been infected in the last 6 weeks... On Friday morning i seriously felt like committing suicide, i went to my local doctor and told her the story she prescribed Atripla which i started taking immediately. The incident occurred at approximately 3am and i started taking Atripla at 11am so more or less 8 hrs post exposure.

All this said i am worried sick i havent eaten in 3 days i dont know how i am going to get through these 6 weeks before my test. what is the success rate of Atripla as PEP considering all the facts of my case? and should i be taking it on a full or and empty stomach?


Thanks

[RapidRod]

You can test 3 months post your last dose of nPEP to obtain your conclusive test result.

[Andy Velez]

OK, take a breath and ease up a bit.

HIV is a fragile virus and not easily transmitted. It is significantly harder to transmit from female to male than the other way around. You were protected by the condom until it broke. And we are talking about a single, relatively brief incident. All of those factors point towards the strong likelihood that you will test negative.

You have to decide if you want to do PEP. The success rate of PEP is very good but it must be started within 48-72 hours after a risk to achieve maximum benefit.  Even without doing it the odds are very much in your favor that you will come out of this negative.   

[stresed]

Hi Andy,

I did start the Atripla 8 hrs post the incident, what are the success rates generally associated with this kind of situation?

[RapidRod]

86%

[stresed]

Ann, please could you give your opinion on my situation, it would be much appreciated.

[Ann]

stressed,

Honestly? I think you're way over-reacting and you didn't really need PEP. I've yet to see the insertive partner end up positive over a condom break and I don't expect you to be the first, PEP or no PEP.

You have to remember that taking PEP extends your window period by four weeks.

You are highly unlikely to end up positive after this one brief incident.

Ann

[stresed]

Thanks for everyone's comments. Im gonna focus on my studies, i definitely wont be making the same mistake, ever again! I just hope and pray i come out of this negative.

[stresed]

Hi All,

Would you guys recomended i stop the Antripla?

In the event tht the lady was HIV positive and i did contract the virus what chances would i have of the Antripla killing off the virus?

Sorry for all the questions, cant help it im super worried.

[Andy Velez]

Ann has already told you that PEP was unnecessary. And that the likelihood of testing positive was very, very low.

You do need to know that if you discontinue PEP, you start counting the 3 months from when you stop the PEP. And yes, we expect you to test negative.

[stresed]

Hi All,

Got some good news today. I had a full STD test done (except HIV) its been 2 weeks post possible exposure. Anyway everything came up negative. Would i be correct in saying that this makes it even more unlikely that the lady would be HIV positive?

[Ann]

Stressed,

You know, it's kinda insulting to assume that if someone is hiv positive, they also would probably have other STIs as well.

Whether or not there were other STIs involved, you are still highly unlikely to end up positive as a result of being the insertive partner when a condom breaks during intercourse.

You're just going to have to suck it up until it's the appropriate time to test for hiv.

Ann

[stresed]

Ann,

i did not mean to offend you. In this specific case where a CSW is involved, it follows that if they had become infected with an STD (ecl HIV) it would be highly likely that it would have been through having unprotected (whether or not it be from a condom break or by choice not to use a condom) sex. It follows then that if she did not have any STD's (excl HIV)  it would make the chances of her having HIV less.

No offence intended.

Stresed

[Andy Velez]

In point of fact other STDs are much easier to acquire than HIV. And using a condom will not necessarily prevent them from being transmitted including orally and by skin to skin contact.

But in part this is all irrelevant. As Ann has said, you need to suck it up and just wait until you can get tested because that's the only way you can get the answer you want to have.  Speculating will not help and it will only feed your anxiety.