Important note: Information in this Q&A was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date. I have been living out of my home country for 3 years. I fully abstained during these three years. I asked my wife that we do the routine HIV test. It is a practice that we have been having before we get a child. Unfortunately, she turned out to be HIV positive. I turned out to be negative. However, I had had sex with her at least nine times without protection. After finding out she is positive, we stopped all sexual contact. I did an rapid HIV test at 8 weeks and and Elisa test 9 weeks after the first exposure with her. Both Rapid and ELISA tests came back negative. I went 10 weeks after the first exposure and I re-tested and I am still negative though still within the window period. The day she got her positive result, the doctor decided to put me on PEP ARV for 28 days because we had had anal sex. All the other encounters were vaginal sex. I am a circumcised male. I finish Combivir in two weeks and this will be 1 month after the very last exposure to her. What are my chances that I shall maintain negative status? In all the encounters, our sex was ten minutes and below and I withdrew immediately and she was extremely wet.
Antibodies appear and can be detected in most cases within 4-6 weeks of infection; it is rare for it to take longer, even though CDC and other authorities continue to stick to the historic advice to wait 3 months to be absolutely sure. Is this true? I was tested at 8 and 9 weeks after first exposure but that includes the last exposure which occurred on the 9th week, actually the day I went on PEP.
Many websites claim that sero-conversion occurs within 4-6 weeks and ARS typically has onset at 7-14 days after exposure. In other words, most people seroconvert with a time course similar to that of ARS. Some claim the symptoms of acute HIV infection always start 1-2 weeks after exposure, not 3 months later. Which one is the correct information from your experience?
First, let me say I'm sorry that you and your wife are facing this situation. While at first, there are a lot of fears to confront, if you are in the UK, the medical care available there should provide your wife a full, healthy, and complete life. Your lives together can go on as before.
The odds of infection from a single episode of anal sex for the "active" partner in gay sex is about 6.5 in 10,000, according to a report on "The Body.com," and I would suspect the same low odds would be found for heterosexual couples, as well. As you have had PEP, I think the chances of infection from that exposure are really quite low.
You seem to be well-read on the various antibody tests, and I can't disagree with what you have written. Most people do show antibodies within a few weeks, and I'm pretty confident you're safe. The recommendation for a confirmatory test at three months remains the "gold standard." I can't make any comments about the timing or specifics of your individual sex acts, there just aren't data. I am pretty confident that you have not been infected, based on what you're saying. Sero conversion illness does typically appear within a few weeks of exposure. I am not aware of any reports of illness showing up at three months.
I wish you luck adapting to your new reality. I see no medical reasons why you and your wife cannot anticipate a full, long life together, even including children together, if this is the path that the two of you wish to follow.
Thank you very much for your reply.
I finished Combivir finally. It is definitely not the best of experiences and I must be there to support my wife irrespective of where she contracted the infection.
It is 1 week and 3 days since I stopped Combivir and I have been getting joint pains , muscle aches and intermittent tingling of muscles the whole body especially during the day. No fever, no sweating, no diarrhoea. I have a sharp pain on my left side of abdomen and of course my abdominal girth has increased. Are these related to side effects of Combivir? I thought the side effects occur when taking the drugs only and after finishing the 28 day course they subside.
I have seen a doctor and he suggests that I am stressed about the whole issue but did liver and kidney tests as he says Combivir has a lot toxicities.
I shall definitely get tested at 6 months to know my actual status.
Is it true that influenza vaccine can give a false positive result? I read on a website called "alive and well.org" that it could. My wife had gotten a flu vaccine 17 days before her positive HIV result.
If this is true, how long should she wait to get tested again after the flu vaccine? She got the vaccine on 12th July. Should she do a PCR and Western Blot? I guess she also needs to do a viral load and CD4 count tests?
She did a rapid test and an Elisa test but never did a Western Blot test. We did the rapid test at a VCT and the Elisa at a hospital while on a trip in Africa but now we are back in the UK. CDC says that one should only be told they are positive after the Western Blot test.
This does not change the fact that we are abstaining from any form of sex for 7 months till I get to know my status.
Glad you're over the post exposure prevention, and best of luck.
The muscle aches and general unpleasantness are not unexpected with Combivir, but in a 28 day course, you should not see any change in abdominal girth that would be attributable to the medications.
The HIV tests are not adversely affected by influenza vaccines.
If you doubt your wife's tests, you could repeat them. There's no harm in that.
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