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AIDS/i have never been more afraid in my life.. please tell me i didnt contract aids
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Question
hello, my name is matthew... i'll start by telling you that i am absolutely inconsolable at this point.. paranoid or not, until i get tested i am a wreck.. cant function during the smallest tasks, without constantly telling myself i must have been infected... so here goes: was engaging in injecting drugs... he removed the needle from his arm, handed it to me, and i poked it right into my index finger... it was a decent prick, a tiny beed of blood appeared on my finger... as far as i can remember there wasnt any visible blood at the tip when he handed it to me, however it was definitely in or at least briefly in one of his veins... forget all the percentages of people who have aids, and who doesnt... i want worse case scenario... so lets assume he does.... im going to get tested in a month or so, despite the fear and finality of knowing, and im wondering if you could tell me your professional opinion in the meantime... because its destroying my life in every aspect.. its all i think about at work, home, literally all the time... im depressed, anti social and petrified.. im going to lose my job if i cant pull my head outta my ass and get back to working with a clear mind, do you understand where im coming from? im 26, and convinced i wont see 40.. thoughts of slowly deteriorating and ultimatley dying are vivid, and horrifying... please respond as promptly as you can, i need some input, preferably good, but honesty is key.... so i hope to receive a response soon, sincerely matthew
My dear friend,
Injecting drugs is the most common routs of HIV transmission. As a friend, I can tell you, if you friend was infected, there is a possibility of your being infected as well. Better being tested six weeks after that incident and three month later again. These will let you know what your status is.
I understand that you are worried. But whatever the result is, friends are there ... so am I.
Hope for the best. Sincere regards.
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Gorkey Gourab
Expertise
Social and behavioral issues related to HIV transmission, sexually transmitted infections, Human Rights issues, rights of marginalized populations, gender and sexuality, research design and analysis related social & behavioral issues, , computer assisted qualitative data analysis and data management (using ATLAS.ti, ANTHROPAC, NVivo 8)
Experience
Specialized in Medical Anthropology. Working on Social and behavioral studies related to HIV transmission as well as Human Rights issues. Specialization in gender, sexuality, masculinity, behavioral studies related to HIV transmission. Qualitative research, programmatic and M&E experience with MSM, hijra (TG), indigenous groups, female sex workers for more than 7 years.
Organizations
International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) as Manager - M&E (Qualitative) with Center for HIV and AIDS
Publications
International peer-reviewed journals & technical papers: (1) Khan, S. I., Hussain, M. I., Parveen, S., Bhuiyan, M. I., Gourab, G., & Bhuiya, A. (2009). Living on the extreme margin: Social exclusion of the hijra in Bangladesh. Journal of health, population and nutrition. (2) Khan, S. I., Hussain, M. I., Gourab, G., Parveen, S., Bhuiyan, M. I., & Sikder, J. (2008). Not to stigmatize but to humanize sexual lives of the transgender (hijra): condom chat in the AIDS era. Journal of LGBT Health Research (Special issue: issues on male sexual behaviors and HIV risk in South Asia). Working papers: (1) Khan, S. I., Gourab, G., Ahmed, T., Sarker, G. F., Chowdhury, F. K., Ghosh, S., et al. (2009). Understanding the operational dynamics and possible HIV interventions for residence-based female sex workers in two divisional cities in Bangladesh. Dhaka, Bangladesh: NASP, Save the Children USA and icddr,b. Presentations in scientific meetings and conferences: (1) Khan, S. I., Hussain, M. I., Gourab, G. & Azim, T. (2011, 16 March 2011). Use of a new approach to count and access diverse groups of hijra for scaling up HIV-preventions services in Bangladesh. Poster presented at the 13th Annual Scientific Conference (ASCON XIII), Dhaka. (2) Khan, S. I., Pasa, K., Gourab, G., & Islam, A. (2007). Indigenous populations of Bangladesh: Living with risks and vulnerabilities to STIs/HIV. 8th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP). Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Education/Credentials
MSS (Anthropology), University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh
Awards and Honors
The Vanderbilt-UAB Fogarty International Center AIDS International Training and Research Program (AITRP)Scholarship for the training on HIV-AIDS related qualitative data analysis and manuscript writing (Center for Global Health, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA)
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