Dear Dr.,

I have some questions concerning my RNA HIV - 1 PCR test

I had this test 25 days after an oral sex with a sex girl , she only sucked my penis and I ejaculated inside of her mouth ( I did not perform oral sex on her , no penetration occured also) . The results came : limit of detection 20 copies / ml , does this mean that I am HIV positive ? They also performed another test which I received the results in the same day (negative) however I received the RNA PCR result after 2 days.

I have to tell you that after 2 and a half weeks from the oral sex relationship (5 weeks have passed till date) , I started having a lot of pain in my joints and muscles in my legs,hands and neck (pain is still till date however not as the begining) , soaring at nights , fatigue , pain in my eyes , head ache which I think are the symptoms related to HIV.

Please Dr. , would you kindly advise on these symptoms and the RNA PCR test , what shall I do ?

Thank you

[Dr Jose]

Hello,
Thank you for your post and welcome to our forum.
First of all I would like to reassure you. You did not put yourself at risk of HIV infection in the first place. Revceiving a blow job does not involve risk of HIV at all whatsoever. Therefore there was not even a reason for you to be tested in the first place.
Anyhow, the test that you had is a quantitative PCR RNA test for HIV-1, also called viral load. Your result indicates that the level of virus is undetectable; 20 copies/ml is the minimum threshold for this test. Therefore your test result is negative. You do not have HIV. You do not need to worry and you do not need any further tests. All your symptoms are irrelevant from the point of view of HIV; they have absolutely nothing to do with it. They could be anything, most likely related to anxiety, but I can assure you that they are not related to HIV sero-conversion.
My advice to you is to forget about HIV, but to get tested for Chlamydia, Gonorrhoea and Syphilis, as these are the infections that you might have contracted after the oral sex.
Best wishes,
José