[Question #240] Potential exposure to STD/HIV - please advise
106 months ago
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
106 months ago
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Welcome to the Forum. While in terms of your relationship you may have had an error in judgment, there is no reason to worry about any STI, including HIV, and no need for testing related to the exposure that you describe. Let me give you the details of why I say this. First, the statistical fact is that most commercial sex workers, even in foreign countries do not have STIs and even if they do, most STIs are not transmitted following a single, unprotected exposure. There are no STIs which are transmitted more than once in three exposures and viral STIs like herpes or HIV are transmitted less than 1% of the time following a single UNPROTECTED exposure. In your case, your exposure was condom protected and use of a condom throughout sex is the best protective measure one can take when having sex with a potentially infected person, greatly reducing the risk for infection. You do not need to worry that your condom may have broken either- when condoms fail, they break wide open leaving no doubt that they failed. Thus both statistics and, more importantly, your use of a condom make this an essentially no risk event.
Personally, I see no medical need for concern or for testing related to the exposure you describe. If testing would give you peace of mind, the most common STIs are gonorrhea and chlamydia and a urine test for these problems at this time would provide conclusive proof that you are not infected. Blood teds tests for far rarer infections, such as HIV or syphilis would need to wait until a month after your exposure. As for herpes, unless you develop lesions at a site of exposure, I would recommend against blood tests as such tests are very often misleading (i.e. falsely positive) in situations such as the one you describe.
I hope this comment is helpful. EWH
106 months ago
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
106 months ago
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