[Question #12016] HIV Risk and Testing
 |
10 months ago
|
Hi doctor, I think this will be the final time I will be asking regarding this encounter. As mentioned earlier, I had an unprotected exposure around February 11th 2024 with an Indian girl in UAE. She was my partner at the time. My following two exposures involved using protection. She had her UAE visa medical in June 2023. They usually check for communicable and infectious diseases like HIV, TB and leprosy during the medical. Since her visa got renewed, it means that she was negative. Her then partner who she met around July had his visa medical around November which came out negative. Atleast that's what she said, so I will have to believe her. I know this might be low risk. The other two encounters were fully protected and the condom didn't break to my knowledge. My next two encounters were around April 22nd and June 20th. But right now I've been having terrible fatigue, muscle aches, headaches, body rashes, sore throat and joint aches. I've also been diagnosed with prostatitis as mentioned earlier. I was told that this might be non bacterial. I had given a urine test for 17 pathogens. It came out negative. I haven't tested for HIV. I just wanted to ask if my symptoms other than the prostatitis as mentioned above are due to HIV. Are they ARS symptoms as such? I've gotta also mention that I have been having CFS since 2021. I'm not sure if it is a flare up. I wanted to know if I am at risk for HIV somehow. Should I just wait for my next visa renewal to check for HIV? They will ban me if I do have it. I'm a bit worried if I have the ARS symptoms.
Also with respect to the pathogen tests for other STIs which I had taken, I was asked to fill half of the container with urine. I had filled a bit more than half of the container. Would that change or affect the results? I had given the first catch and had not urinated for 2 hours before the test. But since I filled more than half of the container, would there be a chance of a false negative?
 |
H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
10 months ago
|
I'm sorry, but our forum cannot be of further help to you. Over two years you have repeatedly asked about mostly low risk sexual exposures; described symptoms that don't fit well with HIV or other STDs; but continue refused to arrange for proper testing -- especially for HIV. I've never heard of any single "urine test for 17 pathogens", but would assume it includes the common STDs (gonorrhea, chlamydia, maybe M. genitalium, and perhaps other genital mycoplasmas); assuming those are negative you can be confident you were not infected with any of them. How the urine container was or was not filled makes absolutely no difference in the test results.
Some of the symptoms you describe could go along with ARS, but only within 1-2 weeks of a new high risk exposure; lasting longer than that or occurring at other times means HIV isn't the cause. Most important, however, is your continued refusal to be tested for HIV. Your location is not a valid excuse, regardless of the mythology about deportation and the like. (Sure positive may be deported, but those persons need to return home for life-extending clinical care anyway. Negatives are not at risk.) Without an HIV test result, we refuse to try to help you further now or in the future.
---
---
You also have been warned about the forum policy on repeated questions. In case you have forgotten, here is what I wrote in your third question on these topics, 19 months ago:
Please note the forum does not permit repeated questions on the same topic or exposure. This being your third, it will have to be your last; future new questions about this exposure, testing, and your fears about HIV may receive no reply and the posting fee will not be refunded. This policy is based on compassion, not criticism, and to reduce temptations to keep paying for questions with obvious answers. In addition, experience shows that continued answers tend to prolong users' anxieties rather than reducing them. Finally, such questions have little educational value for other users, one of the forum's main purposes. Thanks for your understanding.
However, I'll make a deal with you. If you finally have an HIV test and would like our advice in that context, please return and let us know. If that happens, we will refund your posting fee.
Good bye. HHH, MD
---