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Expert: - 4/15/2011


Question
Sir,

I recently had an unsafe homosexual encounter with my friend.Unsafe because we do not use condoms.We had oral sex but during ejaculation we do not take in each others semen.My question is, im worried that he might have HIV.How long after the said encounter should i let my self be tested for HIV.What is the recommended period? Thanks

Answer
Welcome to AllExperts dear Cris.

It depends on the situation and the context. Following are two possible situations and possible time-frames:

Partner - Unknown HIV Status
The time it takes for people to have produced enough antibodies varies; anywhere from 2 to 8 weeks or longer, with the average being about 25 days. But this can vary from person to person so a good rule of thumb to follow is if your negative test was done less than 3 months after your potential exposure, you should get another test after 3 months time. While about 97% of people will develop HIV antibodies after an infection, it may take 6 months to produce antibodies in some cases.

Partner - Known HIV Positive
Exposure to a known HIV positive partner is a situation that requires seeing a doctor as soon as possible; be it a primary care provider or in an emergency room setting. The reason for the urgency is the possibility that post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) will be initiated. Simply put, post exposure prophylaxis involves prescribing an HIV drug regimen after an HIV exposure to decrease the risk of infection occurring after the exposure. The timing of PEP has been proven to be more effective the sooner it is started; preferably less than 6 hours after the exposure but no more than 72 hours.
My apologies for delayed response.

Regards,
Gorkey

Source:
CDC. (2010). HIV Testing Basics for Consumers.
Mark Cichocki, R.N. (2010). How long after a potential HIV exposure should I wait to get my HIV test?
HIV InSite. (2011). What happens when you get tested for HIV?

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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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