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Q: Is This Hiv?

asked by: goodboy007 on May 7th, 2007

New User

Dear Doc,

Situation: Over the months of Nov’06, Dec’06 & Jan’07 (last sexual contact around 4th Feb’07), I have had sexual contact about 9 – 10 times with 3 - 4 call girls (1 or 2 of them I now remember had very purple colored tongues & 1 or 2 sores around the mouth/lips). My sexual contact included lying nude with the girls, sitting on top of them both ways (Tummy up & tummy down) & vice versa, taking & giving them nude body massage, sucking & licking their boobs, some licking & kissing on the body (never lip to lip) including breasts, face, arse etc., 3-4 times fingering the girls in their vagina; since I have sat nude on top of their arse sometimes my penis tip has touched their arse lip or vagina lips but never had any intercourse with any girl except once using a condom for a 3 minute duration (woman on top); everytime I got the girls to masturbate me with their bare hands.

Symptoms: Since about the 1st week of March, I have been having the following symptoms which got reduced after the first month:
1. Red rashes on the body especially chest & body itching.
2. Pin-prick & tingling sensation on various parts of the body
3. Still having enlarged lymphnodes in neck, armpit & groin
4. Still having dry lips with very little whitish mucous kind of formation on the lip corners
5. Still having a very dirty tongue (inspite of 4 times cleaning a day) with a whitish yellow coat ( thrush-like)
6. Body pains for about a month which have now subsided.
7. Lost 3 Kilos weight in about 3 weeks but have now regained 1 kilo.

Tests: Got tested on 20th April’07 for HIV using ELFA – VIDAS method (don’t know if this is a good test); result – negative (it says 0.03; > 0.25 is positive, <0.25 is negative).

Also got tested for Syphilis same day using TPHA method; result: indeterminate Again got tested for syphilis on 29th April’07 using TPHA; again result is indeterminate.
Doctor advised 2.4 mg Penicillin injection which I had.

Pls. tell me what are my chances of having contracted HIV? I am married but staying with my wife only since last 1 month after a gap of about 8 months. Haven’t indulged in intercourse with her since she rejoined me.

A very worried guy.

Replies(3)

Llewellyn

replied on May 7th, 2007

Extremely eHealthy

We can't really tell you your chances of getting HIV since it depends on so many factors. The symptoms you described could be HIV related, but they also could be caused by many other things.

That is good that you got tested. False positives are far more common than false negatives, however, it is also possible that you tested too soon. Most people have developed the detectable antibodies within three months, but some people take anywhere from 6-12 months. That means that the HIV test could keep coming back negative for as much as a year after infection in some cases, although it is not common.

I would suggest being very careful over the next year and testing again at some point. Keep in contact with your doctor and let him or her know about any symptoms and changes that you experience.

goodboy007

replied on May 8th, 2007

New User

Thanks Llewellyn for the reply. You say that I tested too soon. I tested 10 weeks after my last contact. Is that not enough? Also, how good is the ELFA-Vidas test. The lab from where I got it done tells me it is more advacnced than ELISA. If indeed it is more advanced, then detection of antibodies at 10 weeks from exposure should be possible. Moreover, would getting a penicillin injection for possible syphilis mask my chances of HIV antibodies detection in future. I had a penicillin injection on 29th April'07.

Llewellyn

replied on May 8th, 2007

Extremely eHealthy

I am not saying that you tested too soon. I am saying that it is possible you tested too soon. Most people can accurately test after 3 months at the latest. However, in rare cases, the HIV just does not show up until 6 to 12 months after the exposure. It's not likely, but there is a possibility that you are positive without showing up as positive yet due to the absence of the detectable antibodies. So while it is unlikely, I want you to be aware of that remote possibility.

More information: "The tests commonly used to detect HIV infection actually look for antibodies produced by your body to fight HIV. Most people will develop detectable antibodies within 3 months after infection, the average being 20 days. In rare cases, it can take 6-12 months."
http://www.hivtest.org/subindex.cfm?FuseAc tion=FAQ

I do not keep up on the different HIV tests, so I can't tell you what is the best. Generally, the newer ones can detect the antibodies earlier than the other ones. I have heard that 6-12 weeks after infection, the tests are pretty much all the same since the main difference was the early detection.

I am not sure if a penicillin injection could effect your results at all. Be sure to remind your doctor that you had one if you go back to test again.

So it sounds like you took a good test at a decent time. Keep in mind that false positives are more common than false negatives. So there's a good chance that you're ok there. However, playing it safe and testing again at some point isn't a bad idea just in case.

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