[Question #7003] Ars and HIV test conclusive ???

62 months ago

Hello doctors,

Recently I asked regarding an exposure which was condom protected vaginal sex And oral sex. The lady was a csw of Asian ethnicity. When I asked Dr hook the question which was the last for the thread he I think he forgot or didn't read that I had vaginal sex as well but anyways he closed the thread and I had to purchase another questions. No worries.

Anyways coming back to my exposure it was condom protected very brief oral and vaginal sex.

Everything was fine until today which is 16th day after exposure I have developed sore throat and I have some back pain as well so I am not sure if this falls under the ars windows or not but I am terrified for sure and as the symptoms come at the same time I am scared to death and regularly checking myself for fever and swollen lymph nodes. I also had rna test done today at quest diagnostics and awaiting for results.

So my question is 16 days too late for ars symptoms and if this rna test would be conclusive if the result is negative.

Thank You

62 months ago

I forgot to mention that I live in Chicago, Illinois.

H. Hunter Handsfield, MD

62 months ago

I'm sorry to see you back. You're going to have to get out of the habit of coming to this forum every time you have a new sexual experience that makes you nervous. You keep asking about similar exposures and getting similar replies. We have also discussed your heightened anxieties about HIV and sex, including advice that professional counseling might be wise.

As advised in your previous questions, the exposure described here was extremely low risk for HIV, because women like you describe rarely have HIV; and when they do, transmission by oral sex is not known to occur, and is exceedingly rare with condom protected vaginal sex. (Even without a condom, if a woman has HIV, her male partner has a risk of roughly 1 in 2,500 of catching it from UNPROTECTED vaginal sex.)

As for your symptoms, 99.9% of sore throats and other symptoms like yours are caused by things other than HIV, and that's almost certainly the case here. And 16 days is on the late side for onset of ARS symptoms. Onset can be that late, but not very often. You can expect your RNA test to be negative. When it is, it will be about 95% conclusive that you don't have HIV. If you feel you need more conclusive results than that, have an antigen-anbitody (AgAb, "4th generation") test 6 weeks after the event.

The forum does not permit repeated questions on the same topic or exposure. This being your fourth, it should be your last. Future new questions about similar exposures and your concerns about HIV will be deleted without comment and without refund of the posting fee. This policy is based on compassion, not criticism, and is designed to reduce temptations to keep paying for questions with obvious answers. In addition, our experience is that continued answers to anxiety-driven questions simply prolong those anxieties, when a better option is usually to seek professional counseling. Finally, such questions have little educational value for other users, one of the forum's main purposes. Thank you for your understanding.

HHH, MD

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