POZ Community Forums
HIV Prevention and Testing => Do I Have HIV? => Topic started by: kchhong on December 28, 2013, 09:04:12 am
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Hi there,
First of all excuse for my poor english since it is my second language, hope you guys would be able to understand me well.
I have been seeing a few sex workers in the past month and we had protected oral/vaginal sex. But this one time I had a small cut on my scrotum when I was shaving my pubic hair, the day after I visited this sex worker as well and we had protected oral/vaginal sex. I am just wondering would that be possible for me to be infected with HIV?
2 weeks after the last time I visited any sex workers, I am now experiencing a flu, a sore throat and feeling a little bit tired at times. I am just not sure if these symptoms are related to HIV virus since it is freezing cold where i live and i have been having bad sleeps lately.
Any opinion/suggestions are welcome, thanks for reading my post! :)
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kc,
You have NOT had a risk for hiv infection.
Condoms have been proven to prevent hiv infection. There have been three long-term studies of couples where one is positive and one is negative. In the couples who used condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, but no barrier for oral activities, not one of the negative partners became infected with hiv. Not one.
Vaginal fluids coming into contact with a scrotum cut is also not a risk for hiv infection. Hiv is a fragile, difficult to transmit virus that is primarily transmitted INSIDE the human body, as in unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse where the virus never leaves the confines of the two bodies.
Once outside the body, small changes in temperature, and pH and moisture levels all quickly damage the virus and render it unable to infect. For this reason, the cut did not pose a risk.
If you feel unwell, see a doctor. Whatever is going on has nothing to do with hiv.
Here's what you need to know in order to avoid hiv infection:
You need to be using condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, every time, no exceptions until such time as you are in a securely monogamous relationship where you have both tested for ALL sexually transmitted infections together.
To agree to have unprotected intercourse is to consent to the possibility of being infected with an STI. Sex without a condom lasts only a matter of minutes, but hiv is forever.
Have a look through the condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use condoms with confidence.
ALTHOUGH YOU DO NOT NEED TO TEST FOR HIV SPECIFICALLY FOLLOWING PROTECTED INTERCOURSE, 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!
Ann