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Had Unprotected Oral Sex. PCR Test Negative. Is There Any Risk Of Getting HIV?
Question: I had exposure through oral sex unprotected and had antibody and pcr test at 21 days. both were negative..Do I need to test again? I heard maybe combo test at 28 days or wait 3 months? IS that overkill?
Hi XXXXXXX,
Thanks for writing to us.
The risk of acquiring HIV through oral sex is extremely low. If your sexual partner is HIV positive and if he/she has oral disease and the saliva contaminated with blood and if your external genitalia has abrasive lesions then there may a possibility. But it is very rare.
The antibody test after 21 days is not useful to you at present whereas the PCR test after 21 days is quite sensitive and will pick up the disease if it is so. As it is negative after 3 weeks you simply forget about the possibility and relax as well.
Further tests are not necessary as PCR test is the best.
I dont think you need to be worried here..
Dr S.Murugan
Thanks for writing to us.
The risk of acquiring HIV through oral sex is extremely low. If your sexual partner is HIV positive and if he/she has oral disease and the saliva contaminated with blood and if your external genitalia has abrasive lesions then there may a possibility. But it is very rare.
The antibody test after 21 days is not useful to you at present whereas the PCR test after 21 days is quite sensitive and will pick up the disease if it is so. As it is negative after 3 weeks you simply forget about the possibility and relax as well.
Further tests are not necessary as PCR test is the best.
I dont think you need to be worried here..
Dr S.Murugan
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Aparna Kohli
She did have terrible oral health and i did have an abrasion.
Today is day 29 and I just felt my lymph nodes in my neck swell. Could this occur after seroconversion? I did not feel them when I thought I was seroconverting and had other symtoms.
YOu say PCR is best. So at 21 days it is 100% accurate or less?
Thanks
Today is day 29 and I just felt my lymph nodes in my neck swell. Could this occur after seroconversion? I did not feel them when I thought I was seroconverting and had other symtoms.
YOu say PCR is best. So at 21 days it is 100% accurate or less?
Thanks
Hi,
Thanks for your feedback.
Presence of lymph nodes in the neck is quite common to get for anybody other than HIV due to various reasons like throat infection, scalp infections etc. Because of your obsession you noticed it obviously. Not necessarily it may be due to sero-conversion. Moreover asymptomatic generalized lymphadenopathy is not common with sero-conversion but after 6-12 months after the infection. So you need not worry about these things. You can better consult your physician to fix the specific etiology of lymph adenopathy.
Regards to the reliability of PCR test, no test is 100% accurate, but they are more than 98% reliable.
Nothing wrong in going in for a combo test as you are already having crossed 28 days since the risky contact.
Dr S. Murugan
Thanks for your feedback.
Presence of lymph nodes in the neck is quite common to get for anybody other than HIV due to various reasons like throat infection, scalp infections etc. Because of your obsession you noticed it obviously. Not necessarily it may be due to sero-conversion. Moreover asymptomatic generalized lymphadenopathy is not common with sero-conversion but after 6-12 months after the infection. So you need not worry about these things. You can better consult your physician to fix the specific etiology of lymph adenopathy.
Regards to the reliability of PCR test, no test is 100% accurate, but they are more than 98% reliable.
Nothing wrong in going in for a combo test as you are already having crossed 28 days since the risky contact.
Dr S. Murugan
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Shanthi.E
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