[Question #11154] HIV worry

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16 months ago

am a male who had a sexual encounter with an upscale escort in India on Dec 20 and 21st with same person. No intercourse was involved. I went down on her clit for may be 10 to 30 secs. I fingered her for about a min max. I realized I had a wart(recently came to know it may be a wart as suspected by doc. Even doc was not sure)on my finger. The skin on that so called wart did not seem damaged nor it was hurting nor it was even filled with any fluid inside. One week later I started to feel little weakness(not a lot) for 4 to 5 days and 2 days later I felt some discomfort in throat. I went to doc on 3rd Jan to address the weakness and after examining she found out that one of my tonsil was infected and some white puss coming out of it. She suspected it to be Mono and ordered CBC and mono test. On Jan 5th Mono came back negative but CBC showed high reactive lymphocytes at ~1700 and absolute lymphocytes at 555. Monocytes were up as well. My Platelet count dropped to 171k from 281k which is my usual avg. 

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16 months ago

On Jan 5 she wanted me to get tested for HIV(4th generation ag/ab) along with CMV and repeated my CBC and metabolic panel. Both HIV and CMV came back negative but my wbc went up from 5.6 to 9 with my lymphocytes were at ~4k and high monocytes at ~2500. My AST and ALT were up to 93 and 143. Platelets were down to 127k. In the subsequent CBC test a week later my reactive lymphocytes reached to 42% and my platelets were being reported as clumping. AST and ALT were still high.


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16 months ago

On Jan 17th doctor ran my CBC again as my tonsil recovered which showed wbc returned to normal and no reactive lymphocytes were reported and my absolute lymphocytes count returned to 2500 normal levels. My platelets were still showing as clumping.

 On Jan 19th which is 29 days after the risk I repeated 4th Gen hiv ab/ag lab test at quest which came be negative.


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16 months ago

Week after the Jan 19th I had congestion productive cough for a week but no sore throat ever nor fever in this whole episode.


My questions are do you see this as high risk? Do you think I need additional testing? If it were you do you move on or still suspect about hiv?

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16 months ago
My humble request is to Dr Hook or HHH to respond when they get a chance
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
16 months ago
Welcome to our Forum. Thanks for your questions.  Dr. Handsfield answer all questions on the Forum except those about herpes which are answered by Ms. Warren.  I will be answering your questions.

The exposure you describe is virtually no risk.  Most upscale commercial sex workers do not have HIV and even if the unlikely circumstance that your partner did have HIV, the activities you describe were virtually no risk.  Masturbation (fingering) of an infected partner is classified as a no risk activity by virtually all experts as well as the WHO and CDC.  There are no cases of HIV proven to have been acquired from masturbation of an infected partner.  Cunnilingus has been associated with HIV in a handful of cases but the risk is so low it is effectively unmeasurable.  The estimated risk of HIV from cunnilingus on an infected partner is less than 1 in 10,000 encounters- i.e. like performing cunnilingus on an untreated HIV infected partner daily for more than 27 years. It is not something I would worry about in the least.  

Regarding the possible wart on your finger- the types of HPV that cause warts on the hands and feet are different from the kinds of HPV that cause genital warts.  This lesion is unlikely to be related to the exposure you describe and would not change your vulnerability to HIV.

Your description of your flu-like illness is a great description of the mononucleosis syndrome which is most often but not always caused by EBV or CMV, both of which you have been tested for.  Nonetheless the course of events is typical for this syndrome.  Although similar symptoms can be due to recently acquired HIV, it certainly was not the HIV that you had- your testing proves this.  At 28 days testing with a 4th generation, combination HIV antigen/antibody test is always positive.  In addition at that time would detect well over 99% of recent infections although would not be 100% conclusive.  Testing performed any time more than 6 weeks after an exposure with 4th generation tests is considered absolutely conclusive.

Personally, given the nature of your exposure and your 4 week test results, I would not bother to test more although that is certainly a a personal choice.  I hope this perspective is helpful.  EWH
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16 months ago

Thanks for the response Doc.  Now my Main concern is the symptoms that I had in the 5th week after my negative test. I had nasal congestion and Productive cough which lasted for around 10 days. Nosore throat(No pain while swallowing or eating food) or fever or any weakness. Could they be related to ARS?

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16 months ago

I might sound crazy when I say this but I wanted to be very honest with you to get the right suggestion. My mind is even going to an extent to think the needle used for my last test at Quest Diagnostics could have got me infected if not by encounter that I had. That's the reason I am seeing symptoms just 1 week after the test which I described above.

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16 months ago

Just wanted to hear that it is rubbish from people like you with a reason so that I can convince myself and move on. 


Sorry had to split my response due to character limits

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Edward W. Hook M.D.
16 months ago
The symptoms you describe simply do not suggest recently acquired HIV in any way.  

Trained phlebotomists do not put there patients at risk.  There have been no HIV infections transmitted by blood drawing for laboratory tests in decades, you are not going to be the first.  Please don't worry, you do not have HIV.  EWH
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16 months ago
Thanks Doc!.. this was bothering me since almost 5 months.. I just took a 4th Gen test yesterday which is April 9 and it came back Negative. With this am putting everything behind me and moving on. Really appreciate your service.. 
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
16 months ago
Thanks for your thanks.  I'm glad I could help.  

Closing the thread now.  Take care.  EWH
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