On April 14th (night of) I had unprotected sex with a coworker. We both live in Denver CO. I am a white married female and he Latino. He is with his ex wife after being divorced once already. They have 2 children. We were both intoxicated and had sex without a condom but he pulled out prior to ejaculation. I have no reason to believe he has sex with men or uses intraveneous drugs but I am somewhat paranoid regardless of what might have occurred. It stems from whoever they may have been with while they were divorced and if sex was protected during that time. What are the odds of being infected after this encounter and when can I test with a rapid HIV test that would give me conclusive results that I have a clean bill of health? It has been 12 days since the encounter.
2015-04-08 03:20:16
Welcome to the forum. I hope I can help you get past your worry about HIV. The chance your partner had HIV and the odds you caught it even if he did both are extremely low. Among men like your coworker under 1 in 1000 have HIV; and for each episode of unprotected vaginal sex with an infected male partner the average transmission risk for the female partner is about the same 1 in 1000. Combining both of these facts the statistical chance you caught HIV is in the ballpark of one in a million. Rather than worrying about time to reliable testing my recommendation is that you have a conversation with your coworker and suggest that the two of you go together for HIV testing. You may find that he's as worried as you are! And even if not he'll probably understand your concerns. If you both have negative tests you'll both know neither is at risk from the other. While you're at it include testing for other treatable STDs i.e. gonorrhea chlamydia and syphilis. The risks for these also are low but a lot higher than for HIV. If your partner refuses or you can't work it out and you're the only one tested I recommend waiting until 4 weeks have passed then seeking out a clinic or doctor that offers the duo test (for both HIV antibody and p24 antigen) -- the results will be conclusive at that time. Also have a urine or vaginal swab test for chlamydia and gonorrhea and a syphilis blood test. (Or you could go at any time for the gonl testing -- which is accurate any time more than 4-5 days after exposure -- and put off the HIV and syphilis tests since the chance of either of these is virtually zero.) The main thing is to not panic and don't be overly worried. Don't confuse your apparent guilt or shame over a sexual decision you regret with STD/HIV risk from that event. They aren't the same. Deal with the former as you need to but stay relaxed about infection risks which are miniscule. I hope this has helped. Best wishes
2015-04-08 03:20:53
