Dear Drs. I just wanted to ask a follow up to a question I asked about an encounter I had in which I received a rolled cigarette from someone who may have had HIV. 

I was advised by Dr. Hook that this encounter was a no-risk event, if the person did in fact have the infection. However, as my OCD has not let up since the event, (I am receiving counseling for that) I continued to spend time on the internet (I know this is the wrong thing to do) and reviewed other questions on this forum. Specifically I became worried about HIV-2 and the relatively unknown nature of it.

After 11 weeks since the event, (a few days prior to 12 weeks) I developed a sore throat, and it hurt to swallow. It was more of a weird sore throat to me as when I swallowed, I had pain in my throat and also a slightly painful sensation in the back of my head, almost as if the ENT processes were inflamed. I kept trying to feel for glands during this but was not sure if I had swollen glands in the back of my head. Almost felt like a head cold. No fever at all. I can't say the throat itself was severe, it was moreso the pain when I swallowed and the sensation in my head/neck when swallowing. I went to the doctor who advised that the throat was a little red, and he felt my neck for glands and did not say they were swollen. He proscribed a z pack (zithromax). The sore throat lasted for approximately 3-4 days and after taking the first day of the z pack, any sore throat any swallowing pain was pretty much gone.

Convinced this could have been related to the cigarette event nearly 3 months ago, I went for another lab based 4^th gen duo test the following week, which would have been 87 days since the event in question with the rolled cigarette. The time of the test would have been 1 week since the sore throat/swallowing pain started, and the test was approximately 4-5 days after the sore throat/swallowing pain subsided. I know this would be much too late for the onset of any symptoms for a no-risk event, but my questions are:

1.Does the 87 day test officially rule out any HIV-1 and HIV-2?

2.I have been tested at 31, 41, 54 and now 87 days post exposure, all with 4^th gen lab based duo test. Are any more tests needed or can I finally move on from this event?

The sore throat and swallowing  pain occurred a few days after I returned from a bachelor party, so I assumed that I caught some infection from that weekend, which seemed to be bacterial in nature if the z pack worked. I was concerned because usually I do not get throat infections and primarily get nasal infections. Although I was sneezing from the day the sore throat started for about a week. There was also 2 days where I had post nasal drip.

Thank you very much for your work and dedication to assisting people in this forum.

Welcome back. However, I don't think I can help much. I have nothing to add to the advice you had from Dr. Hook a month ago. As he said, there was no risk of HIV from sharing the cigaret. Negative HIV tests, when done sufficiently long after the last possible exposure (6 weeks for the AgAb/4th gen tests) always overrule all other factors. No matter how high the risk at the time, and no matter what symptoms someone has, negative testing proves HIV infection is absent. I'll also add that symptoms ALMOST NEVER are useful clues that someone has HIV: many conditions cause identical symptoms, and yours aren't typical for HIV anyway.