It has been little over 6 week since the exposure.

I just had a horrible flu that I couldn't move out of my bed for hours.
I had fever and bone-chilling symptoms that I could literally feel the bones painfully freezing.

I'm just gonna look at this as not related to STDs since it's a flu season and weather has been in fact really cold.

Hi Fredo,

I've been trying to go to a clinic but not many places seem to be opened since a new-year is coming up.

I tried to put my mind at ease after reading some of the articles you put links on the post but I found information I didn't want to see.

http://www.hivdent.org/_oralmanifestati ... ralman.htm

which contains selected portions of a review published in the journal AIDS (Oral Transmission of HIV: A Review of the Evidence) written by Rothenberg R , Scarlett M, del Rio C, Reznik DA, O'Daniels CM

AIDS 1998, 12:2095-2105

1 man (age 25) with steady female partner and one other insertive orogenital contact with a female one month prior to probable acute AIDS syndrome.
2 men who seroconverted after receptive oral sex with ejaculation
1 man acquired both gonorrhea and HIV from receptive oral sex
1 man acquired HIV after deep kissing, receptive oral sex without ejaculation, and receptive anal intercourse with a condom
4 patients (out of 46 seroconverted) reported only unprotected orogenital contact prior to critical exposure leading to HIV infection; confirmed by partners of 2 out of the 4
4 persons; among 30 newly infected persons, these four had a risk context that suggested transmission from receptive oral sex

This is a report of period between 1990 to 1998. There have been 24 cases of hiv transmission via oral intercourse.

I feel like I am more at risk after finding out this data. Any advise please??

Hey Jimmy,

There are an estimated 56,000+ new cases of HIV in the U.S. each year. Over 56,000! Think about that number. The literature that has you worried estimates about two dozen cases, over nearly a decade, resulting from receptive oral sex (and from a quick glance it looks as if several of those cases are questionable).

HIV transmission via receptive oral sex is a rare phenonenom at best. The risk from the scenario you describe is minimal.

Hang in there pal!

Fredo

_________________
ASHA Moderator

Jimmy....although Fredo beat me to it, I was going to say the same thing. You are like me, you look for the worst case scenario. After lurking on these boards because I had been diagnosed with HPV, I ventured into the HSV board and read that 1 out of 4 women has Herpes. Now, instead of thinking, I have a 75% chance of not having herpes, I went with the "OMG, I have a 25% chance of having herpes and not knowing it" approach. This lead to weeks of checking symptoms online and seeing my Doctor for random pimples, razor rash and normal glands. She performed a swab test, that didn't alleviate my fears, she checked me over practically every week, that didn't alleviate my fears..the only thing that finally got me to stop thinking that I had herpes was to have a blood test performed...which came back negative.

Please stop reading stuff online and causing yourself more concern. Get tested at the 6 month mark. As Fredo has pointed out a handful of oral cases in a decade against what amounts to millions of genital cases in the same time period, would indicate to me that your chances of being positive are very rare.

Thank you Fredo and Concerned for a prompt response.

I know I am making you guys repeating over and over not to worry about it since odds are very unlikely. I guess I couldn't shake up from the fact I was one of the unluckiest person after contracting hsv-1 asymptomatically by a single sexual contact which only lasted few mins. I also fell under 1% category of visible warts among ones who have hpv that I'm just always looking at the worst although I'd hate to admit.

I am certain that chances of contracting hiv over other stuffs are rare.

I wish I can really get this thing over with asap. I want to start functioning normal again. . . Thank you guys.

Well...if you want a ray of sunshine with HPV...just be glad that you have low risk HPV. Low Risk HPV although bothersome, does not lead to any potential health issues. Having visible warts also allows your doctor to perform treatments on the warts. And every website that I have read indicates that HPV does go away in time, if treatment doesn't work, then your body's immune system starts to fight it off. Sure, you will need to tell your partner that you've been exposed, but so have 80% of sexually active people by the time they are 50. Again, it's all in how you look at things.

Hey Fredo,

If you have redness on sclera that persists for more than a day even after putting some eye-drop, is it a potential sign of eye infection from hsv or hpv?

I think ocular herpes most often affects the cornea or retina. I suspect redness of the sclera (white of the eye) can be due to numerous factors, none of which is likely to be HSV or HPV. Of course, I have limited expertise on this topic, so get anything that persists checked out to see what the heck it is! HSV and HPV are almost certainly unlikely candidates, though.

Hang in there pal!

Fredo

_________________
ASHA Moderator

Fredo,

Thanks a lot for your prompt reply. You always energize me and make me to feel optimistic.

I wish I can feel so confident but I think it may be irdocyclitis, a type of uveitis. Remember how I was mentioning about blurry vision, decreased vision, and so on. One of my eye has redness around one side of pupil and herpes type 1 is one of the causes. I can not get any luckier.

I am gonna go and see eye doc but man...this is just ...
Please don't make comments saying I'm over-reacting about symptoms I've read online and stuff.

I just need facts and I guess I will find out tomorrow when I go see a doc if they are available.

I couldn't read through this whole thing. HSV-1 is nothing to worry about. EVERYONE has that. I wouldn't say everyone has HPV, or atleast the ones to worry about, but I would say HSV-1 is so prevalent that it's nothing to worry about. HSV-2 is something you will need to inform your partners about. It's nothing to worry about either. You'll just have outbreaks here and there. No sweat. Genital warts are nothing to worry about too. Just have them treated. You only have to worry about high risk HPV types. Those can cause cancer.

Make sure you are careful with bearing children. If your wife catches HSV-2 or GW, then there is a slight chance of transmission to the baby. That will not be good.

I disagree, if you look at the herpes board, you can read some of the stories of people who found out that they have HSV 1 genitally and I'm sure they would have loved to have been informed if their partner knew they had HSV 1 (orally or genitally). If the person with HSV 1 is with a partner that does not have HSV 1 orally (and not EVERYONE has it) it can still be spread to the genitals. In fact, Betsy told me that at my age early 40's only 60% of people have HSV 1 orally.

Fredo,

Thank you so much for kindly and promptly answering my questions. You probably wouldn't understand why I was stubbornly refusing to accept the fact the chance of HIV transmission was extremely low given complicated circumstance I was facing.

At this point, I am confident I do not have HIV and I even suspect the result of HSV-1 from viral culture but I must accept the fact that viral culture is more accurate than blood test. (sigh)

I have few questions as I always did but in much more optimistic way:

1. I had a visit at eye doc's office and confirmed I don't have ocular herpes. However, I found out I have retina split which may cause possible detachment but not linked to any STDs. My question is are you more susceptible to develop ocular herpes if you have hsv-1 genitally vs have it orally? I couldn't find any information about this and I'd highly respect your opinion, Fredo.

2. My doc (STD clinician) had told me there is no need to be on acyclovir or any other drugs if you are not sexually active. What's your opinion? Do you agree?

3. Have you heard any co-existing complications about people with both hsv and hpv?

4. I stopped looking at reports on hiv but I just want to know if there is any recent reports indicating there was ever a hiv transmission through insertive oral sex among heterosexuals (not MSM). You are right all the transmission reports I posted were receptive oral sex on specific cohort in closely monitored experiment. I just want to see some facts and I promise you I won't freak out.

5. Local clinic refused to give a second pap test for my gf because they only do it once per person which I think is ridiculous. Where can I get free routine pap test in So. Cali? Do you know?

You have been extremely supportive and I thank you so much for what you are doing for people on this forum. Thank you.

Has Fredo disappeared again??

Fredo seems to be very busy with his work. My online uncle...

I got a blood test done and result is not ready until 2 weeks after.
Sux...It's usually 1 week! Also, I'm still in window period that result is not considered 100% confirmative.

After 5-6th treatment with liquid nitrogen, over 6-8 months period, warts have disappeared. I know if they disappear, it's less likely to come back and hopefully it stays that way. I am still concerned about both hpv and herpes down the road and people tend to try to ease my mind just because I don't have any visible symptoms. I understand people want to think optimistically but readers can be misinformed from these positive feedback.

Fredo, I have few more weeks so hopefully I can fight this through until I get a result.

I had a result back from a doctor.

Non-radioactive for HIV 1 and 2.

At least, this huge nightmare got off of my back. It's been 8 weeks which I've been told is pretty accurate and odds are on my side. I had trouble breathing and felt dizzy for number of days which my doctors are suggesting it was from extreme anxiety. sigh...
Thank god...

1. I had a visit at eye doc's office and confirmed I don't have ocular herpes. However, I found out I have retina split which may cause possible detachment but not linked to any STDs. My question is are you more susceptible to develop ocular herpes if you have hsv-1 genitally vs have it orally? I couldn't find any information about this and I'd highly respect your opinion, Fredo.

Ocular herpes almost always results from an oral HSV-1 infection that, upon reactivation, takes a strange nerve pathway that leads to an eye (usually only affects one eye). Auto-inoculation (say, introducing HSV into the eye with your finger) can happen but is rare, and is more likely to occur with initial outbreaks rather than recurrences.

2. My doc (STD clinician) had told me there is no need to be on acyclovir or any other drugs if you are not sexually active. What's your opinion? Do you agree?

Using any of the antivirals for genital herpes is almost always optional. Their prime use is to speed healing so that outbreaks don't last as long. Also, some who have frequent/severe outbreaks take the meds everyday to suppress future outbreaks. This "suppressive therapy" can also reduce transmission risks to a new partner by about half.

3. Have you heard any co-existing complications about people with both hsv and hpv?

Nothing I'm aware of, no.

4. I stopped looking at reports on hiv but I just want to know if there is any recent reports indicating there was ever a hiv transmission through insertive oral sex among heterosexuals (not MSM). You are right all the transmission reports I posted were receptive oral sex on specific cohort in closely monitored experiment. I just want to see some facts and I promise you I won't freak out.

You know, I'm not sure...would be rare at best, but I can't vouch for the full depth of the literature on this topic

5. Local clinic refused to give a second pap test for my gf because they only do it once per person which I think is ridiculous. Where can I get free routine pap test in So. Cali? Do you know?

Just curious, why does she need a second Pap? Regardless, try Planned Parenthood or local STD clinics to see if they have free or low-cost services. You can also send your ZIP to info@ashastd.org and someone will see if they can find free/low-cost facilities near you.

Best,
Fredo

_________________
ASHA Moderator