I, 30 year old male, am in a committed relationship. However, this past month I have met other men online for what I thought was safe fun. I only receive handjobs, mutual masturbation,  kissing and rubbing. The last instance of this was probably 2 weeks ago. Today I have a headache and pain in the back of my neck. My throat is mildly sore, and I only get relief if I lay down. I went to my nearest health center and took a rapid HIV Test which came back negative. I am currently in Georgia where the hiv rate among msm is high. 

However, I am now skeptical and have the following questions:

1. how likley is it that I have gotten infected from mutual masturbation, deep kissing, and frottage ? 

3. What if the guy ejaculated and it shot onto the head of my penis opening. Is that a significant risk? 

4. Should I trust my neg result with the rapid insti finger prick 3rd generation test? 

5. Does the insti test pick up HIV During the acute ARS phase? 

6. Am I having ARS symptoms? My throat is not severely swollen. And my headache is radiating to the back of my neck and by forehead/eyes. 

I'll start by answering the question you posed in the title you chose:  I am very confident you will not be the first forum user who turns out to have been infected with HIV.

First, you describe zero risk contacts. HIV is not transmitted by " handjobs, mutual masturbation, kissing and rubbing". Second, your symptoms are not typical for a new HIV infection. (Sore throat and headache can occur but are extremely unlikely to be the only symptoms.) Third, the symptoms of ARS are not caused by HIV itself but by the immune response to it -- and immune response produces antibody detected by testing. Therefore, your negative blood test proves HIV is not the cause of your symptoms.

Which Georgia? In the American state, HIV rates in MSM may be a bit higher than in some states, but not by much. I don't know the rates in the Eastern Europe country. But whether or not your partner(s) were infected doesn't matter when the exposure itself is risk free. 

Those comments partly answer your numbered questions, but to be explicit:

1. These events are zero risk for HIV.

2. [Missing]

3. In theory, contact of infected semen with your meatus (penile opening) probably could transmit the virus. But this would be very low risk.

4,5. Your blood test was too soon to prove you did not acquire HIV, which requires later testing. However, as discussed above, it does prove your symptoms are not due to HIV.

6. No -- discussed above.

From a medical/risk perspective, there was no need even to be tested for HIV. That said, reassurance alone is a valid reason for testing. Therefore, you should follow through with another HIV test -- preferably an AgAb (4th generation) blood test -- in a few weeks. You can expect it to be negative.

All in all, really no worries. Let me know if anything isn't clear.

HHH, MD

1. To be clear I didn’t see any of my sexual partners’ semen touch my penis, but I am just nervous about if they had semen on their hands when they touched my penis. Given this scenario, would you still stay it’s no risk? 

2. I don’t have access to 4th generation tests because they are expensive and the clinic i go to only does 3rd generation insti finger prick tests. How accurate are those tests at 2-3 weeks post a potential exposure? 

3. Should I stop having sex with my regular partner until I wait to get retested?

4. Now the ache is starting to radiate from my head to the back of my neck and down my back. Is this consistent with ARS? 

2. The 3rd gen tests detect around 50% of infections at 2-3 weeks. 

3. You were at zero risk from the events described and there is no reason to stop having sex with your regular partner. If somehow I were in your situation, I would not have stopped having unprotected sex with my wife, and would have no worries about it.

4. As already discussed, your negative test result is 100% proof your symptoms are not due to ARS.

- should I believe this?

- is it mandatory that I take another 4th generation test in a few weeks to be sure 

That completes the two follow-up exchanges included with each question and so ends this thread. I hope the discussion has been helpful. Best wishes and stay safe.