[Question #6001] I am living in hell

71 months ago

Hi doctors I am a high school student I did something very stupid and every day I regret it and I have unprotected vaginal and oral sex with a girl infected with HIV 2

But I did not know that she was infected

Only two days after the relationship Now it's been 54 days after exposure During that period I had some symptoms and are still going on now.

Symptoms: Pain in the joints،Pain in the bones And lower back, Ulcers in the tongue, Pain in the neck, Numbness in various places in the body, Pain in the lymph nodes in most of the body, skin dryness and Sometimes abdominal pain and diarrhea.

I conducted tests during that time And they were as follows 4th generation combo test after 21 ,28, 45 and 54 days .Are those tests enough? and I can be 100% I am free from HIV 2 or I need to wait longer because I afraid of infect my girlfriend.

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

71 months ago

Welcome to the forum. Thanks for your question.

I understand your concerns -- it is of course alarming to have a confirmed HIV exposure. I'm assuming your knowledge of your partner's HIV2 infection is correct, but please confirm. Is this certain, e.g. she told you herself? This isn't just a rumor? Is she on treatment for HIV? If so, and if testing has shown the treatment to be effective -- i.e. only small amounts of virus, or none, detected in her blood -- then there is no risk of transmission. Effective HIV treatment completely prevents transmission of the virus. I'm also curious where you are, since HIV2 is so rare in most countries.

But the important information is in your test results. They are 100% conclusive. The HIV antigen-antibody (AgAb, 4th generation) blood tests are among the most accurate diagnostic tests ever developed, for any medical condition. Testing any time 6 weeks or more after the last possible exposure are always conclusive, and you had two such tests (45 and 54 days). These result overrule both exposure history and symptoms: no matter how high the risk at the time you had sex with the infected person, and no matter what symptoms you have had, the test results tell the truth: you do not have either HIV1 or HIV2. (And your sympotms are not typical for HIV infection. Some or most of them may be more psychological than physical.)

So all is well, no further worries. You do not have HIV and do not need any further testing. You can safely have sex with your girlfriend without putting her at risk for HIV. (Of course other STDs are a different story. Depending on risky lifestyle of you, your other partner, and your girlfriend, you may want to consider testing for gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis.)

I hope these comments are helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear, or if you have more information about the infected persons HIV status.

HHH, MD

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71 months ago

Thank you doctor for your quick response. Can I now be 100% confident that I do not have HIV 2 and I can have sex with my girlfriend even if the symptoms persist with me until now or in the future .

71 months ago

Sorry, doctor, I have another stupid question. If you had sex with condoms with a person infected with HIV 1 or 2, but two hours or three hours before the practice you flew pubic hair, is it possible to catch the virus from shaving the pubic hair because it is possible to have small wounds.

And thank you doctor for your help and I know this my last replay so I hope You have good health you and your family

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

71 months ago

"Can I now be 100% confident that I do not have HIV 2 and I can have sex with my girlfriend even if the symptoms persist...?" Read my reply above. I haven't changed my mind in the last hour!

"Small wounds" from shaving probably do not raise HIV risk at all.

Thanks for your thanks and your kind words. (You have one more follow-up comment coming; I'll leave the thread open in case something comes up.)

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71 months ago

Hi again, I want to ask two more final questions so that I can move forward without thinking about it again because today I checked the girl and told me she had HIV 2 and she is not in treatment yet.

1- If I was kidnapped by a gang and injected with HIV-2 blood and raped from the anus of an HIV-infected person 2 and performed the fourth-generation analysis after 54 days, can I be 100 percent sure I am free of the virus?

2-Is entering a small amount of the virus delayed the emergence of the result of the analysis or is it the same thing.

Thank you very much and I am sure you will give me a real answer and you will treat me like your son

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

71 months ago

I strongly encourage you to stop thinking of "what if" scenarios that have not happened and are unlikely. If you have in fact been kidnapped, injected with HIV infected blood, and anally raped by an HIV infected person, probably you would have caught HIV (from the injection). But your negative test result proves you aren't infected, so obviously those things did not happen. Even if you had experienced such events, your negative blood test at 54 days proves you were not infected.

The amount of virus from any particular exposure does not change the time to reliable test results. A low-dose exposure is less likely to result in infection than a high-dose event. But with either one, if infection takes hold, the 4th generation tests are 100% conclusive after 6 weeks.

Some experts recommend final testing at 3 months, even with the 4th generation tests. We do not make that recommendation on this forum. However, you are of course free to have another test if it will help convince you that you didn't catch HIV2. But if you remain so upset, you also should consider professional counseling. It is not normal to remain so fearful and anxious after the reasoned, science based reassurance you have had on this forum, and perhaps from your own doctor(s). I suggest psychological care from compassion, not criticism.

That concludes this thread. I hope the discussion has been helpful and that you are now able to move on without worry.

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