Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.Hello and thank you for taking the time to read this. I have not been HIV tested in over a year now. My last test was negative. I have had 2 boyfriends since that time and now suffer from frequent, painful boils. I am wondering if I should get tested immediately and if frequent boils would start this soon with HIV infection or if they would most likely start once the cd4 counts start dropping. Any insight to this would be wonderful. I have had 4 major boils in 6 months and can't take the pain anymore from them.
Mark H. Katz, M.D.
Regional HIV/AIDS Physician Coordinator
Kaiser Permanente of Southern California
Painful boils are not a common symptom of HIV infection, and given your negative tests, I would deem this even more unlikely as the culprit. But there is a Staph infection, MRSA, which is not HIV-related but may recur unless different- than-usual antibiotic treatment is given.
I think if you have a health care provider you can trust--and who knows about MRSA--you can find a good resolution to this. (There are also some sexually transmitted infections, such as one called LGV) which can present with painful boils, especially in the groin.)
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