3 months ago ago I had unprotected oral sex, giving and receiving, and protected anal sex  (I was the bottom) with a Trans gender csw. I did not see the condom break although I wasn't in a position to see it. 10 days later I got a recurrent genital herpes outbreak with no other symptoms. The herpes outbreak was lasting a bit longer than 2 weeks so I went on medication 1000mg of valtrex once a day for 5 days. It immediately started to work and the outbreak was gone within a get days.

My questions are,

1. How risky was my encounter

1. Do my symptoms sound like Ars?

2. Should I get tested for anything

It's good to hear you're going about your sexuality with maximum safety. The only additional aspect you don't mention, and should consider in the future, is asking partners about their HIV status before having sex, and avoiding sex entirely or at least being especially careful about condoms etc with anyone who is HIV infected and not on effective treatment, or who don't know. You also could consider pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) with anti-HIV drugs, although this probably should depend on how frequently you have such sexual experiences.

To your specific questions:

1. If your partner has untreated HIV, and if the condom failed, the chance of acquiring HIV was on the order of one chance in 400. The risk of other STIs (gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis) would be somewhat higher. But all low risk if the condom didn't fail.

2. You don't mention any symptoms except the herpes outbreak, which doesn't imply newly acquired HIV:  there are no reports that HSV infected persons have more frequent outbreaks when they acquire HIV, or that acute HIV triggers herpes outbreaks.

3. Anyone in your situation should have routine STD testing from time to time, like once a year. Although testing is optional after any single exposure, it would make sense if you occasionally have such sexual experiences and haven't been tested recently. Routine testing in this circumstance should include gonorrhea and chlamydia tests for all exposed sites (rectum and oral for sure, plus urethral [penile] if exposed), and blood tests for HIV and syphilis. If you go ahead with testing at this time, you can expect negative results -- but better safe than sorry!

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

HHH, MD

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.