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Home / Answered Questions / Hello, please help with my doubts. I received unprotected oral sex from a sex worker. My girlfriend was out of the country at the time, I was weak and stupid. Although it seems to be low risk, I have a 4th generation test at 16 days after my contact, a 3rd generation test at 35 days and another 3rd generation test at 41 days, all of them negative. Just the idea of being infected with HIV has me deeply troubled, depressed, stressed and worried. I have even thought of having a 4th generation test at 50+ days, now that I’ve seen on this website that there’s no chance of a false negative after those days with a 4th gen test. My questions are: should I re-test? what is the danger of my exposure? I am also thinking of going with an infectious disease medic, I just want to live a normal life again. I don’t even want to touch my girlfriend in fear of infecting her with something. It has been 7 weeks now, I want to be happy again. Please help.

Hello, please help with my doubts. I received unprotected oral sex from a sex worker. My girlfriend was out of the country at the time, I was weak and stupid. Although it seems to be low risk, I have a 4th generation test at 16 days after my contact, a 3rd generation test at 35 days and another 3rd generation test at 41 days, all of them negative. Just the idea of being infected with HIV has me deeply troubled, depressed, stressed and worried. I have even thought of having a 4th generation test at 50+ days, now that I’ve seen on this website that there’s no chance of a false negative after those days with a 4th gen test. My questions are: should I re-test? what is the danger of my exposure? I am also thinking of going with an infectious disease medic, I just want to live a normal life again. I don’t even want to touch my girlfriend in fear of infecting her with something. It has been 7 weeks now, I want to be happy again. Please help.

Hi,

We do not see HIV passed through oral sex, with or without a condom. See our Know Your Chances – Oral Sex for risks associated with oral sex.

Regarding your testing, you’re correct that different HIV tests have different window periods. In order for your test results to be accurate you need to be past the window period for the test. The 3rd and 4th generation HIV tests would give you a final result after 3 months, but it would be unusual for the 4th generation test not to pick up HIV by 6 weeks.    

You might be exposed to other sexually transmitted infections like Gonorrhea, Chlamydia, or Syphilis, from oral sex, though. It’s a good idea to get tested for these regularly if you’re sexually active. Using condoms for oral sex can protect you against many of these infections.

Also, it’s very common for people to experience stress and anxiety after having new sexual encounters. For more ideas about how to manage these feelings check out our Worry & Anxiety page.

Hope this helps. Please feel free to comment below or submit another question as needed.

Health Nurse