You needn't worry at all:  there was no risk for HIV or any other STI. Even in close personal sex, when someone might use his or her own genital fluids for lubrication, fingering and hand-genital or finger-anal (or finger-vaginal) contact carry little or no risk of transmission. Such activities simply don't carry enough virus to allow tranmission to occur. (Even with ejaculation into the vagina or rectum, with billions of HIV particles injected directly inside, the chance of becoming infected is no higher than one chance in a thousand.) And in the situation you describe, it is simply impossible that the massage worker hands had sufficient body fluids from a previous customer to infect you. That's true even if you had open wounds of the anal area.

As for your symptoms, you clearly need professional evaluation for your possibly enlarged/inflamed lymph nodes. In the unlikely chance these symptoms are due to HIV, they are not from the massage events described. The symptoms of a new HIV infection -- i.s. acute retroviral syndrome, or ARS -- always start within 2-3 weeks; 5 weeks is too late. 

For reassurance, you should have an HIV test as part of the evaluation of your symptoms. If negative at this time, it will prove your symptoms are not caused by HIV. (HIV antibody tests always are positive in people with symptoms caused by HIV.) The best approach is to see a doctor or clinic for in-person evaluation.

I hope these comments are helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.

HHH, MD

It is now 5 weeks since the incident.  However, I have been feeling these symptoms for a few weeks now.  Which would line up with the 2-3 weeks after the incident you indicated for ARS to show up.  

Also, this is the only incindent of concern for me regarding hiv transmission. 

I'll be happy to comment one last time if you'd like to let me know the result of your test if and when you have it, but I won't have any further advice until then. In the meantime, stay mellow: it is extremely unlikely you have HIV. (This and our preceding forum at began almost 17 years ago. In all that time, with thousands of questions from persons worried about a possible HIV exposure, not one person has turned out to have it. You won't be the first. If and when it happens, I'm confident it will be a truly high risk exposure, not a near-zero-risk event like yours.)

That completes the two follow-up exchanges included with each question and so ends this thread. I hope the discussion has been helpful. Best wishes and stay safe.