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Expert: - 3/8/2009


Question
I am Thai guy who had unprotected sex 14 weeks ago. My partner is thai prostitue. She test negative at 11.5 and 13 weeks after our last exposer(I keep contact her and pay her to test). I did take PEP 34 hours after the exposer (At that time I did not know her status that why i have to pay her to test because I have to wait longer). I got my negative result at 7.5 weeks after my PEP last dose. I am going to test again at 12.5 weeks after my last PEP. Could I feel relife and wait for the testing time right now? The anxiety is killing me. I think the prostitue who I had unprotected sex with is clear at the time I had sex with because her result at 13 weeks is negtive. Am I correct?
Thank you for all your kindness"  

Answer
Hello Patipan!

As PEP is a treatment to stop a person becoming infected with HIV after it’s got into their body, it was a good step to take PEP.After HIV gets in someone’s bloodstream it takes time (hours or a few days) before it permanently infects them. If someone acts in that short time they stand a chance of stopping HIV before the infection takes hold.

However, studies show that PEP doesn’t work every time - some people who take it still end up with HIV afterwards. It can fail because some anti-HIV drugs don’t work against some strains of HIV. And it’s more likely to fail if it’s not taken properly or soon enough.

The situation you described, indicates that the sex worker is free of HIV. But, rigorous tests (as you planned) will indicate the most accurate results.

Sorry for delaying.

Best regards,
Gorkey

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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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