Dear Doc,

I am a healthy male, married with a child. I happen to visit a strip joint and got carried away and inserted my finger into the vagina of one of the strippers who I believe could be hiv positive..I stopped myself and was shocked at my behaviour as I have never indulged in any kind of sex outside my married life..I am extremely ashamed of my behaviour and now am really scared of getting infected...I have been avoiding my wife and kid becoz of this and it is giving me sleepless nights...I got myself tested with HIV 1 & 2 and the results were negative..this incident happened two weeks ago and i have not shown any signs so far of ill health..I also do not have any cuts in my finger and my skin is/was intact..i have been told by my family doctor that I have nothing to worry about and that I should forget the incident as a bad dream as the chances are non existant but i would like to get the opinion of an expert like you...Do I need to get tested again? Can I safetly say that I will not be effected by the HIV virus...please let me know as I am really worried and it is effecting my family life. Your advise could clear my doubts and put my mind to rest

We could tell you a thousand times that what you did poses no risk to your health, but pixels on a screen are no replacement for the trusted human contact you need to resolve this question. Please take this question--and the wagonload of guilt it has caused you to feel--to a live, trusted medical professional. You're okay. Get a reliable human being to tell you that in person so you can put this to rest.