Hi Doctor

If you answer my question I will be very grateful and donate at least 50 pounds to your admirable foundation.

Basically 4 weeks ago in Thailand I visited a massage parlour. After the massage I got the sexworker to give me a handjob until I came. I have been worrying about this incident ever since. What concerns me is that present on the lower shaft of my penis while recieving the massage were two genital sores (I thought that they were the natural spots you get at the bottom of the penis which I thought I had aggravated and swollen by trying to squeeze them) but now I think they were genital sores. The massage must have only lasted a few minutes. I don't know if the sexworker had any cuts or hands on her hand while performing the sex act. Prior to this incident both me and my girlfriend had been tested for HIV and both came back negative.

I have had some symptoms since the incident. Two weeks after I began to get a feeling of pressure in my right ear. Two weeks later this feeling is still with me. Today 4 weeks after the incident my lymph nodes on my right groin feel swollen and my right testicle has also been aching. I also think I have another sore on the shaft of my penis although it did pop like a spot when I squeezed it.

I want to ask do you think there is any risk of HIV transmission?

I didn't think there was any from what I had read on the internet and had unprotected sex with my girlfriend last saturday. From tuesday this week she told me she has felt like she has had fever and also felt fatigued. However by Friday she says she now feels better. I'm really scared that I could have caught something or HIV and given it to her. What do you think the risks are? Would appreciate an answer as going out of my mind with worry about infecting myself and my girlfriend.

Thanks very much!

Hello,

Your risk of acquiring HIV from a sex worker's rub-a-dub-dub is nonexistent. However, I am concerned about several other potential STD problems based on your report!

First, I have no idea what "natural spots you get at the bottom of the penis" are. If indeed these were "genital sores" as you suggest, it's important to determine what the cause may be: herpes, syphilis, genital warts, etc. It is possible, depending on what these "genital sores" really are, that you could have transmitted some type of STD to your sex worker rather than vice-versa!

Next you report you had another sore on the shaft of your penis and you have continued to have unprotected sex with your girlfriend. This is putting your girlfriend at risk for whatever is causing your genital sores. Also you report "squeezing" these sores. That's never a good idea and could potentially make matters worse. I would urge you to get a full STD screen, show your doctor the "genital sores" and level with your girlfriend about your Bangkok cock banging!

HIV is not your problem; however, you may still have an STD issue to deal with.

Thank you for your donation to the Robert James Frascino AIDS Foundation (www.concertedeffort.org). It's warmly appreciated.

Good luck!

Dr. Bob