Expert: John Thai, M.D. - 10/28/2007

Question
QUESTION: hi, im going to ask a question that i already probable have an answer to.   about a year and a half ago i had sex with a prostitute in germany i didnt think too much of it until i meant my gf 4 months later. The first time we hung all we did was make out, deep toungue kiss. a few days to a week later her lyhmps nodes swelled under her chin and along her jaw, no where else . I got freaked out becuase the sex worker who i had sex with 4 months earlier popped into my mind and i thought i attracted aids and passed it on to my gf. So i got tested at 4 in a half months with an elisa test. it came back negative. then i got tested at 5,6,7,8 months with a rapid test and they all came back negative. Then i got tested at a year with an oral swab and it still came back negative. My gf got tested a little over three months and that came back negative. so im wandering if her lymph nodes could have been caused by something else? if im still dealing with anxiety about this do you think its rational.?

ANSWER: Hi Wes,

If you were tested negative for the past 1.5 years after your sexual encounter with the prostitute, then you did not contract HIV during that specific sexual encounter.

Her swollen lymph nodes are due to other causes.

Regards,

John Thai, MD

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: hi, thanks for the fast response. actually it wasnt a year and a half. it was a year. so after 6 negative tests, plus my girlfriends negative test in a span of year, im okay right?      when someone just gets hiv and starts displaying symptoms , do they get lymph nodes all over there body or just on one location?

Answer
Yes. You did not contract HIV from that particular incident with the escort a year ago if you've tested negative for the past year. Individuals who contract HIV usually get flu-like symptoms 1 month after the infection... and not usually lymph node enlargements throughout the body. This might be due to other viral infections, such as infectious mononucleosis.

Regards,

John Thai, MD