Expert: Kristen Brannock, MPH - 6/19/2007

Question
not sure if im thinking myself in to symptoms or not.  got vaginal secretions on my finger.  I chewed my finger nail off earlier that day.   now i started having headaches at at one monthfrom exposure.  Not sure if person was + or not.  went to doctor and he said I had sinus infection.  put me on antibiotics.  nothing happened. went back had a hiv 1&2 test at 4 weeks.  negative,he said it came back at less than 1% do not know what that means but he said nothing to worry about.  went back to doctor at 7 weeks and he put me on allegra for maybe alergy.  now at nine weeks im still paranoid.  neck is a little stiff around muscles that come from shoulder to neck and around coller bone, not sure if im doing this to my self or not.  my tounge has been sore.  my tounge is white alot but will go back pink every other day.  I have dry cotton mouth alot, and get a canker sore on my gum every now and then. Would any one see symptoms this early.  Its been stressing me out very bad.  very depressed and negative about everything.  Am i putting to muck pressure on my self.

Answer
Anytime that infected blood, vaginal fluid, semen and/or breast milk enter another person's body, transmission is possible.

That being said, the risk of HIV from what you told me is so extremely small. It's too early for a definitive HIV test- you need to test at least 3 months post-exposure for an accurate result. Even if you were infected, you would not have HIV related symptoms right now- those take years to develop. Stress can cause a lot of bodily symptoms. Do not worry anymore about HIV. If you keep having weird symptoms, see your doctor again because you may have something, but I highly doubt it is HIV.