you’re still negative?
- “If a guy had HIV, he’d tell me”
- “He didn’t mention HIV. So no need for condoms.”
- “I tested negative in the past, so must still be OK”
- “If I had HIV I’d know. I’d feel ‘different’.”
- “If I’ve got HIV I’d rather not know.”
- “I’ll wait until I’m ill before I test.”
- “I sometimes worry about getting HIV”
- “I got ill a few weeks after unsafe sex. Was it serious?”
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“I got ill a few weeks after unsafe sex. Was it serious?”
Within about 6 weeks of getting HIV a lot of people have a short illness. Symptoms can be a sore throat, body rash or fever. But these can be signs of something like glandular fever. And some people get no symptoms when they first get HIV. Only an HIV test will tell you for sure.
Between 8,000 and 10,000 gay men in the UK have HIV without knowing. Most think they’re still HIV negative. 1 in 4 gay men with HIV don’t realise they have it.
In some big city gay scenes nearly half of men with HIV may not know they have it.**source: Health Protection Agency, 2008 and J Dodds A tale of three cities, 2007.
So lots of us have HIV without realising. Now let’s bust some myths!
‘Seroconversion illness’
From the day someone picks up HIV they become very infectious; if they have unprotected
anal sex there’s a much higher chance they’ll pass on HIV.
But it takes a few weeks for signs of infection to show. One sign is when your body
makes ‘antibodies’ to HIV in your blood and it goes from testing HIV
negative to testing positive. This is called ‘seroconversion’. It happens
within 6 weeks or so of getting HIV.
During seroconversion most people (about 4 out of every 5) get an illness that lasts a week or two. The most common signs are:
- Fever and flu-like aches
- Sore throat
- Rash on the body
These could be symptoms of a less serious infection like glandular fever. So if you get any of these, don’t assume you must now have HIV. The more of these symptoms you get, the stronger the chance HIV is the cause. But if you’ve not had anal sex without a condom in the previous six weeks it’s not likely to be HIV.
Seroconversion illness can make you so ill that you need to see a doctor or go to hospital. Or it can be mild and dismissed as a bit of flu. A runny or blocked nose is not a symptom of seroconversion illness. If your nose is blocked or runny, it’s very likely all you have is a cold or flu.
But remember: some people get no symptoms when they first pick up HIV. If nothing happens in the weeks after someone fucks without a condom it doesn’t mean they’re in the clear. An HIV test will show for sure.