Am I at risk?

[johndavis]

Around three months ago, I had sex with another male. We had oral sex, fingering, and then anal sex (with a condom and I was "on top"). About two to three weeks later, we had sex again. This time, I once again was "on top" and my condom fell off. I wasn't fully aware that this occurred, so I continued for around 30 seconds and ejaculated inside of him. He was immediately worried that I had an STD, and I assured him that I was definitely clean. He told me that he had been tested a month earlier, was clean, and had only had sex with his ex-boyfriend since then.

Since he was so worried about my condition, I assumed that he was in fact clean. Yet 24-36 hours later, I started developing a sore throat from hell. It hurt to swallow, speak, or eat. It lasted for about a week, when honey water proved effective. I was also tested for strep, and the result showed it was negative. During this week, I also had swollen lymph nodes (fairly common for me) and a mild fever (never reached over 100, I would just get mild chills and feel fatigued). I went to a clinic and came back negative for both gonorrhea and chlamydia. They told me that given the specificities behind the acts described above, that I was at very low risk for HIV. I'm currently back home for winter break, and I have to wait to go back to the clinic in a few weeks to test for HIV. I'm extremely anxious in the meantime. Could anyone give me a breakdown in an objective manner? I know that acute HIV symptoms take a few weeks to commence, but given that my symptoms were very similar to acute syndrome, I am fairly worried. Thanks for the help.

[Ann]

John,

You need to understand that describing the state of someone's sexual health as "clean" is to imply that those of us who live with hiv are dirty. It's highly insulting and if you want our help, I suggest you knock off with the insulting language. Thank you.

Hiv is a fragile, difficult to transmit virus that is more difficult to transmit to the insertive partner (top). As the insertive partner, you have had a risk but one very much on the lower end of the scale. This means you do need to test.

The earliest you should test is at six weeks. 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 only 22 days. A six week negative must be confirmed at the three month point, but is highly unlikely to change.

The ONLY time you were at risk is when the condom came off. I fully expect you to test negative after this brief one-off incident. However, you still need to test to make sure.

Your symptoms came on much too soon to have anything to do with hiv. Symptoms caused by hiv seroconversion usually happen at least two weeks after infection has taken place - NOT 24-36 hours.

Ann

[johndavis]

I am very sorry about my terminology. That word is what my friends commonly refer to it as, but thanks for informing me about the connotations associated with the word. Also, thank you for giving me such a straightforward answer.

John

[Ann]

John,

You will also need to test for all the other more easily transmitted STIs. Many of them can be present with no obvious symptoms, so the only way to know for sure is to test.

As a sexually active adult, you should be having a full panel of STI testing at least once a year or more often if unprotected intercourse occurs. It's what responsible adults to to look after not only their own health, but the health of their sexual partners as well.

Again, I fully expect you to test hiv negative. Just make sure you test for everything and not just hiv.

Ann