I had the most harrowing time of my life from doctors (including my family doctor) and medical staff who just would not want to see me or attend to me. They wanted me out of the nursing home or they would call the police/media. My family was very supportive but did not know what to do. They tried finding a place to help me but could not find anything. So despite being very unwell I decided to fly back to Bangkok.  

That is what saved me. I flew to Bangkok alone and admitted myself in a hospital. The doctors here are so great. I told them what I had and they asked my permission to take my blood test again and treated me as if I had just a common cold. No fuss, no stigma, no questions, no discrimination, touching me etc as if I were normal! So different from my Kolkata experience. I was diagnosed with acute pneumonia and treated for it and began to improve. They also educated me about my condition. I was discharged from hospital within ten days and although I had become a skeleton by then, I went to work. I still go to work. The doctors wanted me to continue life just as before. After the pneumonia was cured I had TB for which I have just stopped taking medicines.  

I started my medicines for HIV in February ‘09. My health is improving and I have stopped losing weight, although still thin. Since July my 80-year-old mother is keeping me company here in Bangkok, cooking for me and making sure I eat well. That has been a great help. For now, I seem to be

doing well and can cope with the constant feeling of being tired - so much better than getting up and getting through the day with so much struggle.

However, I really want to go back to Kolkata in the New Year as my job contract in Bangkok is getting over but I am frightened of doing so as I don’t know of any doctor to see or where to go for my medicines etc. Can you please help me in suggesting a doctor/clinic I can go to for my medicines and check up when in Kolkata. Can you also help me get in touch with organisations and groups dealing with or helping people living with HIV/AIDS. I so desperately need a support group.  

I really want to go back to India/Kolkata and definitely do some NGO work so people don’t have to go through what I did. I don’t know where to start.   

For information on organisations in West Bengal, please contact Pawan Dhall, Country Director – Programmes & Development, and Kolkata office

Director, SAATHII (Solidarity and Action against the HIV Infection in India), at 229, Kalitala Main Road, Purbachal (North) Calcutta 700 078, India

Phone: 91-3324844835, 91-3324845002
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

You can also contact the State Aids Control Society at the following address: 38 West Bengal State AIDS Control Society Swasthya Bhavan, GN - 29, Sector - V, Salt Lake, Kolkatta - 700091. Contact person, S K Sen 033-23574400, 23570122, 23576000, 23577944 (FC). This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ,

- Editor, hivaidsonline.in 

Three weeks after my exposure there were enlarged submandibular nodes, 3-4 on each side, 1-3 cm in size. There was some tingling in the parotid region, but no pain. Week 7 (day 49) I developed a low grade fever and sudden onset of severe pain in my knee joint and muscle aches in my legs. It was quite severe and though I managed to walk about, I was unable to stand for long. There were also pains in smaller joints of my toes and fingers. On movement there were clicking sounds, but no pain in shoulder and wrist joints. I also had pain in the skin of my soles and fingers, a left side tinnitus and weakness in the muscles of my left hand. There was no sore throat, cough or nasal congestion.   On day 10 of illness, my TLC had fallen from my usual count of about 5000 to 4000/mm3. The symptoms more or less subsided in about two weeks but I continued to have joint pains in small joints off and on. I also had on and off muscle aches in my thigh for two months after symptoms began.

I am very concerned that the swollen lymph nodes were due to ARS. I haven’t had a swollen lymph node I know of all of my life and to have several of them in the drainage site of the eye within just three weeks post exposure has me quite convinced they were due to HIV. I also haven’t fallen so ill in almost 20 years.

I’m finding it very hard to believe that my illness is not related to the exposure. However, I had negative antibody tests on three occasions after this illness - a 9.5 week combo test for HIV 1/2 and p24 (which corresponded to 18 day after symptom onset), a 12 week 3rd gen ELISA (35 days after symptom onset) and a 19 week combo test and a rapid immunogold comb test (12 weeks after symptom onset). All done in a well reputed private lab. My relief after each negative has been very   short-lived, just a couple of hours or a day at the most.

I have come across the UK national screening and testing guidelines.(http://www.guideline.gov/summary/sum...x?doc_id=12376). I am quite concerned about the last paragraph under the heading ‘Negative test results’ which states: ‘If a patient presents with clinical symptoms suggestive of HIV infection or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and the HIV screening tests are repeatedly negative, then referral of the specimen to a specialist testing unit is recommended.’

I’m concerned that NACO recommends testing up to the six month for occupational exposures. Please guide me and give me your valuable opinion regarding my HIV status. Can I rely on a 19 week negative since I haven’t taken PEP? Do you think I require further testing or specialist testing? I’m not on any immunosuppressant therapy or a drug user and have had no major health problems. I’m quite upset that specialist testing would involve PCR and Western Blot that are known to give false positives and indeterminate results. If I do get a PCR and Western Blot, what are the chances of getting false positive and indeterminate results? I do think the virus is there; I may be a rare case that hasn’t made antibodies, or the antibodies are not directed to the antigens used in ELISA tests.  

This is a tricky situation. Let us go one by one.

The exposure was a very low risk exposure. It is your anxiety that is making you more worried. If you washed your eye immediately, that is good enough. You did not take PEP and that is also okay (though some others may differ on this; in a similar situation, I would not have taken or suggested PEP).  

Now, the symptoms. They may suggest acute HIV infection or may not. Just because you never had something in your life before does not mean you will not get it ever due to anything else. The fall of TLC from 5000 to 4000 does not make any sense as both are normal. I do not know a single person who could say that my normal TLC is 5000. Because there are diurnal variations and anything within normal range is normal. Many things may lead to temporary decrease, not only HIV, so that again does not tell us whether it was HIV or not. 

What do we do now? 

The only way to know is by doing a test. A negative test after more than four months reasonably rules out infection. If you repeat it at the end of six months be sure that you are not infected (as you may keep on attributing everything happening to you in future to HIV and would keep on getting anxious, especially when you have generally been healthy).

I will not suggest any other test but our standard ELISA/Rapid/Simple tests. No need to go in for more sophisticated ones such as DNA PCR. I would also recommend you not pull out your hair by surfing the internet. Instead take the opinion of a good HIV physician in your vicinity.  

So, at best, I suggest another test at the end of six months of exposure and if it is negative, just forget about it.

--Vinay Kulkarni 

The list of government integrated counselling and testing centres is   available at http://www.nacoonline.org/upload/Documents/ICTCs.pdf 

--Editor, hivaidsonline.in

Please visit the nearest integrated testing and counselling centre. The list of centres in Tamil Nadu is available at http://www.nacoonline.org/upload/Documents/ICTCs.pdf

--Editor, hivaidsonline.in

The Maharashtra State AIDS Control Society can advise you on this matter. Their address is: Maharashtra State AIDS Control Society, Ackworth Leprosy Hospital Compound, Behind SIWS College, R A Kidwai Marg, Near Wadala Overbridge, Wadala (west), Mumbai 400 031 Mr Prakash Sabde: 9522 2411 3035 (Direct), 2411 3097 2411 5791 2411 5619 24113097

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

--Editor, hivaidsonline.in

The window period for HIV is three months. You have tested negative three months after the exposure, so there is no reason to worry. Please contact the integrated counselling and testing centre nearest you for more details on how to prevent infection in the future. 

--Editor, hivaidsonline.in

Please contact the Andhra Pradesh State AIDS Control Society in Hyderabad for information and advice on starting a counselling centre. Andhra Pradesh State AIDS Control Society, DM&HS Campus, Sultan Bazar, Koti, Hyderabad - 500 095. Phones 040-24657221; 24650776.

Email : This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

http://www.apsacs.org/index1.html

--Editor, hivaidsonline.in 

No, TB antibiotics cannot show wrong results neither does tuberculosis itself. But there is always some chance that an ELISA based test may show false positive result for several reasons. It is always recommended that any positive result be confirmed before establishing the final diagnosis. This can be done in two ways. One, it could be done by repeating the test with two more rapid test assays using different kits with different antigen profile (though this may seem complicated for a lay person, a good pathologist would be able to guide you). Alternatively, do a more specific test such as Western Blot or a DNA PCR test (these are costlier). Again, a good pathologist would be able to guide you. However If the diagnosis is confirmed then you must accept it and proceed with further investigations. As she is already having TB may be she will also need anti-retroviral treatment (ART- the treatment for HIV) to be started as soon as possible. Consult a good experienced person as treatment of TB and HIV together is a bit more complex.

--Dr Vinay Kulkarni

I went for a total body check up. At the time my HIV status was negative. The doctor said that the eosinophil count is high due to my smoking habit and gave me some medicine. In August when the body pains increased I went for another HIV test. HIV status was again negative. The doctor said it was due to lung infection caused by smoking.  

In August I stopped smoking. After that I observed some vision problem and body pains. On September 15, 2009, I did all HIV related tests and all were negative. I was still taking medicine for lung infection. I still have body pains. Is the body pain and vision problem due to smoking? Will the medicine and smoking affect the test result? Can I test again in December, one year after the exposure? 

There is no need to get tested repeatedly for HIV once you test negative. However, you may wish to visit the Integrated Testing and Counselling Centre nearest you for advice on how to avoid exposure to HIV.  

As for your health problems, you should consult a doctor and follow the prescribed treatment. 

--Editor, hivaidsonline.in 

The information that you ask for is not available on the website of the National AIDS Control Organisation.

The surveillance data is collected to give a sense of the broad trends among different population groups (pregnant women, reflecting the general population; female sex workers; injecting drug users; men who have sex with men, and STD clinic attendees). It can reflect district-level variations but not variations within a city.  Further, there is no information on the male-female ratio of HIV prevalence at the state level.

Nationally, adult HIV prevalence is 0.36%. HIV prevalence for adult women is 0.29% and for men it is 0.43%. Men make up 61% of the total population of people living with HIV.

The section on Tamil Nadu contains figures on the districts with the highest prevalence of HIV (Nammakal and Salem). Chennai itself is a low prevalence district (0.25%). HIV prevalence in Tamil Nadu is 0.25% measured in 2006. This is calculated from testing a certain number of blood samples collected from antenatal clinic attendees during a specified period every year.  HIV prevalence among female sex workers (4.62%), injecting drug users (24.2%), STD clinic attendees (8%) and men who have sex with men (5.6%) is quite high.

--Editor, hivaidsonline.in