Hi Pozzie,
I would just like to ask, because these questions continuously rummages throughout my mind for a couple of months now.
Last June 2012, I had an anal sex with a guy..no condom used...
Four months after, I got tested with HIV, and thankfully it turned out negative..
But one month before I got tested, I had an oral sex encounter, and the guy came into my mouth..but I immediately spitted it as I can recall...
Then next oral sex encounter was on November,
And the most recent is January 10
Since I could not totally abstain from having sex, I always insist of just having "oral sex" no anal sex...
Because I know the risk in anal sex..
My questions are:
1. If I had a sexual encounter one month before the test, will HIV anti-bodies be present on my blood already for them to be detected?
2. Assuming I never had a sexual encounter after that June 2012 Anal Sex encounter, how conclusive is my test for four months?
3. What is the generation kit being used in social hygiene clinics, should the information be available.?
lastly
4. How high risk is oral sex?
Thank you so much pozzie, God Bless you!
-Bek
CONTRIBUTOR'S RESPONSE
Hi Bek.
I will answer the question, one by one :
1. If I had a sexual encounter one month before the test, will HIV anti-bodies be present on my blood already for them to be detected?
It depends on the 'sexual encounter'. If this is an ORAL sex which can be considered an extremely low risk at this point, then your non-reactive result is considered a very good indication of your current status. If you have another 'anal sex' one month before, protected or not..we'll ..your non-reactive result is still a good indication but do take note that the window period for HIV with the current HIV test is between 2-8 weeks with an average of 25 days for antibodies to develop. The HIV antibody test worldwide follows the 3 months/12 weeks/84 days window period for it to be conclusive and if you belong to certain groups of people with inherent problems in immunity like congenital immune deficiency, on steroid intake, history of cancer or receive a post exposure prophylaxis in case of health care workers, then it is advised to be tested up to 3 months. To answer your query, half of people will have detectable antibodies by 1 month post exposure, and half will have to wait up to 8 weeks with few up to 3 months.
2. Assuming I never had a sexual encounter after that June 2012 Anal Sex encounter, how conclusive is my test for four months?
If you do not have any congenital immune deficiency problems, prolonged steroid intake, history of cancer, other concurrent problems that may compromised your immunity or received a post exposure prophylaxis, then a non-reactive test at 3 months/12 weeks/84 days should be accepted as conclusive. No test is 100% but a test is either conclusive or not. Your test should be conclusive.
3. What is the generation kit being used in social hygiene clinics, should the information be available.?
The Rapid test in most testing clinic, I believe is a third generation test at most. The definition of this' generation' is partially historic. The improvement in the test actually shortened the 'window period' now at 3 months. Do take note that rapid test for HIV has very high sensitivity exceeding 99% ( no test is 100% accurate) and HIV antibody test is not easily affected by other current conditions. HIV test may yield to false positive in some cases but very, very low false negative.
Currently, the 4th generation test is alo available in many hospital as they combine both the antigen (HIV virus) and antibody and can shorten the window period to just nearly 6 weeks. The 4th generation test is not available in social hygiene clinics. HIV testing is protocol-based, so you should be fine with the rapid test.
With regards to the availability of this information to the public, do take note that many information about HIV itself is not fully disseminated to the public and that HIV testing is just one of the facets in this advocacy. It is best to ask the technologist in the specific clinics if they can provide that particular information to you but in my opinion, it is not a necessary information. The Ora-quick test (home kit test) is a second generation test but is marketed recently. It does not mean its is less sensitive but probabaly more convenient but anyways, this is just an analogy.
4.How high risk is oral sex?
There have been a lot of discussion about the risk of oral sex. I presume, very few people are engaged in PROTECTED oral sex. In the past, there are few studies implicating this mode of transmission but these studies are not reliable as the few respondents who pointed out as oral sex ALONE being the mode of transmission,would later mentioned that they have OTHER concurrent risk behaviour like unprotected anal sex or vaginal sex once or twice with an HIV positive partner. Actually, there are documented cases but most of them have dental surgeries, bleeding gums, severe lesions in the first place. It is very difficult to document the risk of oral sex as most people will not engaged in this behavious alone. We'll to answer your questions, if the exposure is ORAL SEX ALONE with an HIV positive person, protected or not, spit or swallowed, the risk is ALMOST nil. In some places, this exposure alone will not warrant for testing but to answer in the context of HIV prevention, the risk is real but considered extremely low risk. At this point, it is best not to be anxious about it but rather be get tested. It is most likely that the result is non-reactive for this kind of exposure ALONE.
Regards,
Phillip Tjr (MD)
Philippine Contributor
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NO PLHIV is alone with his or her struggle with HIV!"
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Hi Pozzie,