[Question #8941] Possible HIV Symptoms
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38 months ago
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Dear Doctors
I had unprotected intercourse with female CSW in Bali, Indonesia, and i am not aware of her HIV status
i am circumcized.
66 Hours after exposure i started with PEP( tenofovir 300mg, lamivudine 300mg, dolutegravir 50mg)
Couple of days after exposure i felt that my throat is full of slime ( no pain or cough)
12 days after exposure my eyes started to burn, and tey are red and watery.
15 days after exporuse i started to feel my lymph nodes are getting swollen, not painful tho
And i notice that i always feel sleepy ( like 12 hours a day, which was not the case before)
Couple of times i saw sweating after sleep.
I am on day 16 of PEP, should i stop with it, i cant contact the Doctor who prescribed it to me, because he is in other country, and i would like to have my conclusive result ASAP since is hard to stand anxiety, and can those sypmtoms be connected to HIV? Thank you
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38 months ago
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Just to add, i have done Urethral swab, 10 days after exposure, and it didnt have any findings.
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
38 months ago
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Welcome to our forum. Thank you for your question. The encounter you described in Bali was relatively low risk. Less than 1% of persons in Indonesia have HIV and even if your partner had untreated HIV infection, your likelihood of having been infected was less than one and 1000 (<0.1%). If you had asked whether or not I recommended PEP for you I would have said no. However, now that you have started it, most experts would agree that you should continue. The symptoms you describe are not suggestive of the ARS.
It is clear that you are anxious about your encounter. You can prove to yourself that none of the symptoms you have described are due to HIV by testing at this time. If your symptoms were due to HIV, even on PEP, the test would be positive. I am confident that if you choose to test, the test will be negative.
To summarize, now that you are more than half way finished with your course of pep, we would recommend that you continue it, followed by testing with a fourth generation, combination HIV antigen/antibody test at six weeks after your last dose. I hope the information I have provided is helpful to you. Please don’t worry. EWH
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38 months ago
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Thank you Dr. Hook!
I have listened to your advice, and continued with PEP, i also did HIV testing today, still waiting for the results.
If my HIV test comes negative (hopefully) which other tests do you advice me to do, since my swab was without findings? i have done it on day 10 after exposure.
I am still worried about swollen lymph nodes and conjunctivitis.
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
38 months ago
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I anticipate that the results of your HIV test will be negative, proving that the symptoms you are experiencing ARE not due to HIV. Other than the swab test you have already performed, the only other test that I would recommend would be a test for syphilis at six weeks after your encounter. I anticipate that the syphilis test, like to test for HIV and other STI’s will be negative. I see no reason for other testing.
The lymph node swelling you have detected is nonspecific and unlikely to be related to any STI which you have acquired from the encounter you described. I would not worry about it unless it progresses. Similarly, your conjunctivitis is also unlikely to be related to the encounter you describe. EWH
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38 months ago
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I got the result of HIV 1/2at test (ELFA) and its negative, i feel much better now, thank you Dr. Hook!
i will wait until 6 weeks after my last dose of PEP to do the testing again, and i am really confident it will be negative again.
Should i test for mononucleosis, because of lymph nodes and pink eye? thank you again sir, i feel relieved now.
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
38 months ago
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Thank you for sharing your test results. I'm pleased that it provided you a measure of relief. Like you, I am confident that your follow-up test at 6 weeks after completion of PEP will be negative.
If you are feeling poorly and/or your conjunctivitis is not improving, you may want to see a health care provider for further evaluation.
This completes this thread. Take care. EWH
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