[Question #12920] HIV Risk Protected Anal
3 months ago
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Hi Dr,
I made a drunken mistake of having sex with a female csw. I am pretty sure I used a condom and it was intact . My OCD is getting the best of me and making me think about what ifs .I remember the max anal I had was for 10 seconds with a condom . Just the tip. The other concern was having unprotected oral. This is in Canada if that gives any statistics .
Any reassurances would be really helpful.
Im on Day 3 and the anxiety and guilt are making me sick .
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
3 months ago
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Welcome to the forum. My apology for a slightly longer than usual delay in responding.
Since you mention OCD, it seems plain that indeed that's the main problem here. Even entirely unprotected sex with female commercial sex workers usually do not result in HIV or any STD, especially in relatively low risk geographic settings like Canada. And assuming you indeed were wearing a condom, this was a near zero risk event. Brief anal penetration with a condom can be considered zero risk. Receiving oral sex also is inherently low risk, even without condom protection. There has never been a proved HIV infection transmitted oral to penis, and other infections are uncommon as well.
Given your level of anxiety (and guilt), I would suggest testing -- strictly for reassurance, not because of any significant risk of infection. The negative results probably will be more reassuring than anything I can say. If you decide on testing, I would advise a urine gonorrhea/chlamydia test, which is valid any time 4-5 days or more after exposure. For HIV, you could have a conclusive PCR RNA test 11 days after the event; and/or an antigen-antibody (AgAb, i.e. 4th generation) blood test after 6 weeks. Syphilis testing also could be done at 6 weeks, although absence of typical symptoms (a chancre i.e. syphilitic sore on your penis) within 2 weeks will be strong evidence against syphilis even before testing is done.
In the meantime, stay relaxed. The likelihood you acquired HIV or any STD is very low and you can expect negative test results.
I hope these comments are helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.
HHH, MD
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3 months ago
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Hi Dr Hansfield,
Thank you for your response. Yes I am sure I was wearing a condom but you know my mind is looping around at the what ifs. Last question I had is I booked an early HIV RNA 10 day test as the provider said 10 days is the window period. Would it make a significant difference to get it on day 10 than 11 ? . Also I am sure about wearing a condom as well but my mind is playing tricks since I was drunk. Sorry about my anxiety but it’s taking over my day to day life plus the guilt. I appreciate all the responses you are giving me . Also for unprotected oral how early to herpes symptoms show up if they do ? And getting my chlymydia test at day 4 and gonnorhea and if they are negative would that be a positive outlook on my other tests that they’ll be negative too ? Thanks for replying .
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
3 months ago
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Most likely 10 days is conclusive for the RNA tests but there has been little research on this and the expert consensus is 11 days. An extra day delay shouldn't be a problem for you.
The chance of HSV1 from any single oral sex exposure is under one chance in thousands; the risk of HSV2 from condom-protected vaginal sex is higher, although still low. But the herpes blood tests are not all that reliable and in absence of symptoms, testing is not recommended after just one (or even several) possible exposures.
Negative gon/chl testing might somewhat reduce the chance of other infections, but those are so rare it really doesn't matter.
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3 months ago
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Thank You Dr ,
So you are confident that If I get the HIV RNA test at 10 days it should be fine for me ? Like my case ?
Thanks Dr
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H. Hunter Handsfield, MD
3 months ago
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Probably yes, but still a bit uncertain. Why wouldn't you want to wait just one more day for a test that everybody agrees is conclusive, when there is possible uncertainty about 10 days? I don't get it -- what difference does a day make? Also remember you are at little or no risk for HIV anyway. (Perhaps you also would like to know that in the 21 years of this and our preceding forum, with thousands of questions from people worried about HIV, nobody has yet turned out to be infected. You won't be the first. If and when it finally happens, surely it will be a genuinely risky event and not a near zero risk like your situation. Think unprotected sex with a known infected partner, unprotected anal between two men, and so on.)
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That completes the two follow-up comments and replies included with each question and so ends this thread. I hope the discussion has been helpful. Best wishes and stay safe.