Dr. Bob, I wanted to write in as a strong case of how symptoms are not a good way of diagnosing HIV. I'm a 28 year old male and I've had unprotected receptive and insertive oral sex with 6 women (multiple times with each) in the past year whose status I did not know as well as protected sex with 3 of them (some of whom I met on the "internets" - yes, I'm a democrat!). I developed active pulmonary tuberculosis a few weeks ago. Since active TB is an opportunistic infection that is one of the first signs of HIV (especially in a young person like myself), I freaked out. This forum and your knowledge got me through the last few weeks and I just got my negative HIV test results back today - Woo Hoo! Thank you for all you do, it probably kept me out of an insane asylum! So to everybody out there who are trying to self diagnose because they have a sore throat and a fever - I had active TB and I'm HIV negative! Despite the odds being severely in my favor (1 to 10,000 for unprotected oral), I've decided the odds of severe anxiety being 1 to 1 are not worth the risk. My next step is to purchase some dental dams! Thanks again, you're the best, and I've already made a sizeable donation to your foundation because there is no better cause. - No longer freaking out but stuck with TB medicine for the next 6 months

Hello,

Wow, I've never heard of anyone being so happy to have active TB! Sounds weird to say "congratulations on your active tuberculosis! Way to go, man!"

Thanks for writing in and sharing your story! WOO-HOO on the negative HIV test!

Thank you for your kind and generous donation! I promise it will touch many lives in a very meaningful way.

Stay safe and I wish you a speedy recovery from your TB.

Dr. Bob