Hi, a year ago I told you about my first bisexual encounter with a man at his home. He gave me oral sex for a couple of minutes, then we attempted anal sex twice with me being the receiver. We finished with mutual masturbation. A condom was used both times during the attempts at anal. Penetration was pretty brief as he had to change the condom twice because he was having difficulty maintaining an erection. At no point I did I notice a broken condom (I was lying beside him as he took the old off and put the new on and didn’t notice anything) and he told me later than both condoms were intact when he took them off. Plus, common sense tells me something would have been said if one had been broken. My partner was a doctor with over 35 years medical experience, which also includes STI testing and treatment for his patients, and firmly stated he was DDF and tests every 6 months and didn’t the least bit defensive about it or offended by my questions/concerns. I took an Oraquick test at day 37, which was negative. Your guidance served me well and eliminated my anxiety, which was incredibly high at the time  (I was sure I was infected). When I wrote to you a year ago, I had accidentally left out a couple of things: around 4-6 days after the incident, I developed a cold sore. I have both HSV1 and HSV2 and get cold sores every now and then. And I was extremely stressed and anxious after the incident, which I think could have brought that on. I also got extremely concerned when I discovered that HSV2 increases the risk of acquiring HIV, even though I don’t recall ever having an outbreak. And in January, my wife experienced brief flu-like symptoms (fever and chills). I guess I just wanted to check in one last time with this information just to make sure it doesn’t change your evaluation. If it doesn’t, I feel I can firmly put this incident behind me a year later. I still feel very comfortable that my risk in this case was miniscule. Thanks!

Welcome back to the Forum.  I'll conform all that I and Dr. Handsfield said during our earlier interactions- your risk for acquisition of HIV was virtually zero and your testing confirms that you did not acquire HIV from the exposure you described.  You cold sore could well have reflected your  high level of anxiety.  While HSV is associated with somewhat increased risk for HIV acquisition, your test results trump any risk and are conclusive. ---