Hi there
I hope you can put my mind at ease as i have been worried sick, I'm 27 and never had any sexual problems before as i have always been careful.
Recently on a boys holiday in Prague we went to a cabaret club, where obviously you can get more than just a dance, stupidy i went with a girl, she was a black girl and didn't speak much english, i used a condom but i reckon between 3 minutes and the end of our sex the condom split, as it was around the base of my penis when i pulled out, and my semen was dripping on her, obviously i was extremely worried as this hasn't happened before
I tried to ask if she was healthy but she never really understood, she seemed just as worried as me about what had happened. my only comfort was it semed quite a well to do club, the biggest in Prague, and hopefully the girls get tested on a regular basis.
Exactly 30 hours later i started to get splitting head aches, then came the night sweats, the sore throat ( red and inflamed) the dry cough and the sore joints. Obviously every new symptom made me more and more worried, which made me go to the doctors today, 6 days after the incident!!.
The doctor seemed quite inexperienced but he reckoned i had a chest infection and gave me some antibiotics, since coming home it seems i have far more symtoms relating to HIV than a chest infection, for instance i have not had a chesty cough, no breathlessness or wheeziness, no phlem.
As you will understand im worried sick about this and the fact it happened with a girl who was potentially high risk has made it even worse
Hope you can put my mind at ease, i will be going for a STD test locally in a weeks time, 14 days after the incident, and im considering the HIV duo test so to make sure
Kind regards

[Dr Jose]

Hi Paul,
Thank you very much for your post and apologies for the delay in the reply as we have had some software problems with the forum.
First of all, I would like to reassure you about all those symptoms that you have been experiencing. They have absolutely nothing to do with HIV sero-conversion as it is far too soon for anyone to develop symptoms after infection. It is impossible after only a few days! Typically symptoms would happen after 2 or 3 weeks and not later than 6 weeks.
Secondly, even though it was an unprotected penetration due to condom failure, the risk of HIV infection for you is relatively low from a single incident, assuming that she was positive. This is estimated around 0.1% (or 1 in 1,000). However you need to be tested for your peace of mind: you can either have a PCR RNA test now or a HIV Duo test after 4 weeks of the incident. More important, you need to get tested for the most common STDs, including Chlamydia and Gonorrheoa.
Best wishes,
José