[Question #11283] About HIV

15 months ago

I had a very high risk exposure with unknown lady in abroad, while having sex my condom got ruptured I told her to do STD screening test she refused and later i came to know that she might be HIV positive and that made me to feel worried since, also I felt sore throat, fatigue, nausea for several weeks After the exposure. I did STD 6 panel test including HIV 4th generation test through STDcheck.com , for the test STDcheck.com sent me to LabCorp and my test was done after 88 days post exposure where I had given blood from vein and Urine sample , all my test came back negative except HSV1, below are my questions.

1) Are my negative test results after 88 days post exposure conclusive for HIV 1 and 2 , HEP B, HEP C, Gonorrhea, and Chlamydia ?

After that also I was having night sweat, nausea, sore throat and I went to my GP and she ordered HEP C and HIV 4th generation test again in 120 days post exposure which came back negative as well, during both the test I had no additional exposure but when I had exposure that was really a risky exposure , now it has become a year I am still worried about my test, if the test was not catching up the antibody, shall I need to retest again or I have to take a pause on worries.

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

15 months ago

Welcome to the forum. Thanks for your question.

It would have been helpful to know what you consider a "very high risk exposure" and the evidence your partner might have HIV. However, at this point it really doesn't matter: you do not have HIV or any of the other infections for which you were tested.

For HIV, it is not the virus itself that causes symptoms, but the immune response to HIV. The immune response is what causes HIV antibody to be positive. Therefore, it is not possible to have HIV symptoms and test negative for HIV antibody (or the virus itself, or both). In other words, your negative test results prove with 100% certainty that HIV isn't the cause of your symptoms. With a 4th generation blood test, if for some reason your body did not produce antibody, the second half of the test -- for HIV antigen-- would be even more strongly positive, and your test result would be positive.

In addition, it never takes longer than 45 days for the HIV AgAb (4th generation) blood test to turn positive. Therefore your negative result at 88 days is conclusive. You do not need any further testing. If you continue to have symptoms that concern you, see a doctor to work out the cause. But it isn't HIV and almost certainly has nothing to do with the sexual exposure you have described.

I hope these comments are helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.

HHH, MD

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