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    Navigate: FAQ Home Page > Sexually Transmitted Infections > Syphilis/HIV
    Posted on: 01/12/2007

    Question

    I'll keep this as brief as possible. First I am a 20 year old college student. I think I have come into contact with syphilis. I have done research and now I'm just scared to DEATH that I could have contracted HIV in the process because the two are linked and also because both are pretty rare. I am so scared I?m making myself sick and I cannot sleep at night. I know this is irrelevant but I have had sex with 4 people, all of which have been long term b/f's and I have known all their sexual history except the last one, who was my age and also a college student. I have been broken up with my last b/f for a year now (I still work with him though) and he made a comment the other day in a not-so-jokingly manner that I gave him syphilis. I was too shocked to say anything in return. When we broke up last year I thought I had contracted an STD but then I figured it was a yeast infection after it went away. About 3 months ago I got a few pimples like bumps on my vagina, they had a tiny hole in them, kind of like a small bug bite and they itched and bleed kind of like a pimple. I read that when you get syphilis, in the second stage you can get waxy looking bumps or just bumps in general. I never had a classic syphilis type rash or chancres (maybe they were inside me). But I figure I could maybe not have had that symptom. I am really scared, made an appointment the 30th of this month to go to the doctor. Do most people have symptoms when they come into contact with syphilis and are all people HIV positive that get syphilis? Does HIV make the symptoms worse? Thanks, scared!

    Answer

    Worrying is not helping. If you cannot get an appointment earlier, than try to stop worrying. There is nothing to be done at this point and your co-worker is a jerk. Make sure they test you for all sexually transmitted infections including HIV and for goodness sakes, use condoms in the future!


    Answered By:
    Nancy Brown , Ed.S, M.A., Ph.D.


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