Expert: Kristen Brannock, MPH - 3/13/2008

Question
Hi:  I am a female.  Not long ago I had unprotected sex with my boyfriend/fling at the time on a number of occasions (VERY, VERY stupid, in retrospect I know).  After we broke up, I discovered he’d been a bit of a “player,” which pissed me off for other reasons although I didn’t think of HIV at the time (again, really stupid, I know).  HIV only popped into my head recently because I am planning on applying for life insurance and insurance company requires a physical and an HIV test.  Well, that got me thinking and thinking ….and not surprisingly, really worried.  

My question is, what is the risk factor for a woman if having unprotected sex with a man?   I do not think he is or was HIV positive, but if he were, what would be his chances of passing it to me with unprotected, regular intercourse?  Again, I understand I was stupid…...  Mary


Answer
Hi Mary,

Don't be too hard on yourself. The most important thing is to learn from your experiences. You are by far NOT alone- I get similar emails everyday from people.

There are a few things that you should know. In terms of risk:
Unprotected- Oral sex < Vaginal sex < Anal sex

Unprotected vaginal sex is riskier than oral sex but not as risky as unprotected anal sex. However, women are more susceptible to HIV based on their biology. There are many factors that go into play and determine whether someone acquires HIV or not.

When a person is newly infected with HIV, it takes 1-3 months for the body to produce enough antibodies to be detected by the test to give a positive result. People who test during this period, often get false negatives.

My advice to you if to go to your local health department for an HIV test before you test for insurance. That way, you will know the result the insurance company will get when they test you if they test soon after. If you have acquired HIV, you can always try to test for the insurance company during the window period where they will not detect infection. Does all this make sense?

I would recommend, no matter what, to test again 3 months from now (outside of the window period) and you will have a definitive result.

Mary, chances are, you are FINE. But I would go over the above and then ultimately find out your status and then if you are indeed negative, make different decisions in the future. Don't feel bad. WE have all been there. I've been there. It's scary but you learn from it. Please email back if you have anymore questions! Good luck!