How many days after HIV do rashes appear?

Hello doctor,

15 days back, I met a girl and we got talking and I was really into her. During the course of sex (I had a condom but before I could use it), she started rubbing my penis on her vagina and clitoris. There was a definite presence of vaginal fluid on the head of the penis. I freaked out but was assured by her that she is not HIV positive and I have nothing to worry about. I later looked up symptoms of HIV on the net and one of the symptoms mentioned was rashes. About a week later I found red bumps on the arm. I started to apply a normal cream on the spots (the ones you apply in the winters to keep your lips and cheeks from cracking) and the redness of the bumps went away after two to three days and the bumps also started to fall. The bumps are all much smaller than when started and have started to merge back into the skin. I have had no fever in this period. So I was really freaked out and want to post some questions as follows:

1. How many days after HIV do rashes appear?
2. How many days do they last?
3. Can the rashes appear without other symptoms such as fever?
4. Can the rashes go away without specific treatment, and by applying just any winter cream?

Currently, I am on medications for blood pressure.

Hi doctor,

Thank you for the reply. It does put me a lot at ease. I had been worried sick since the red rash showed up. Just wanted to point out that I had attached the link to the picture of the rash on the original post. Two days before that rash appeared I had moved to another home which had been locked down for months and the mattress and all was not fully cleaned when I started to use the bed. I did use new sheets, but the mattress was dusted not as thoroughly as it perhaps should have been. I spend a lot of my time on the bed resting sideways, as I use my right arm to perk me up to use the laptop. The red rashes in the picture appeared on the right arm which was in contact with the mattress more than perhaps any other part of the body. Could those rashes have been because of dirt or dust? I thank you once again for having put me at ease about that rashes in the previous reply.

Thank you doctor,

I wanted to confirm that you had looked at the pictures of the rash before your first reply, right? If not, then in light of seeing the picture your opinion in your first reply, remains unchanged?

Hi Doctor, I am getting more and more hypochondriac and should really see a psychiatrist about it. However after your answer in the previous post I had relaxed for a while, but then the anxiety has returned. Also it struck me that there was some (perhaps) relevant info that I had not given in the previous posts. The info is that the red bumps (which btw have become normal by now, did so in around a week), never itched. They just stayed like that till they became normal Also I am sending some more pictures of the rash that I had taken back when it had happened - Its been over a month since the said sexual encounter and I have had no issues such as fever etc upto now. Request you to kindly reassure me and put my mind to rest on this issue once more, that these rashes seem to have been caused by local allergies and as you said in your previous reply that (and I quote) "this rash is not due to HIV". I assure you this is the last I will bother you regarding this issue. Regards

Hi, I am sorry to disturb you over this again, but since you already know the history and the context of HIV, I thought you would be the best person to put this to. I noticed two red patches on the left arm biceps on the 15th night. I don't know how long they had been there, but 15th is when I noticed them. I applied some dettol and boro plus and they have noticeably reduced a great deal. They never itchced or anything. I felt it was best to show them to you. The redness has greatly reduced and they are on the way out. Is this anything to worry over. There were just these two red 'spots' on the left bicep and no where else on the body, as far as I could tell and I have looked. Also additionally tomorrow is the 19th which is 6 weeks since the day of the incident. I have read that symptoms such as fever, flu, rashes, etc. show up within 2 to 6 weeks of the incident. I do know that net is full of medical misinformation. However I have checked multiple sites and all of them stick more or less to 2-6 week range. I have spent the past 6 weeks in a great deal of panic and worry and have been on constant what I could only describe as symptom watch, and have stayed awake all night worrying at the slightest sneeze or the slightest of red bumps even due to mosquito bite. In this 6 week period I have not had fever or flu or rashes besides the one that you have already said I needn't worry about in the earlier posts or the two red spots whose pics I have sent you in this post. I understand that only way to be completely accurate about this is to do a test done. However seeing that I didn't have any symptoms for 6 weeks now should I stop worrying about the whole thing. I understand that one can't be completely sure in this till one is tested but I simply don't have the courage to be tested, but seeing as I have had no symptoms should I atleast consider that on balance I probably don't have HIV. I am not saying to confirm definitely I don't have HIV, but on balance of probability in the absence of symptoms is it fair to say that I in all likelihood don't have it. This will be surely be the last I bother you about this. Kind Regards

Hi, Thank you for you reply. 1 in a 1000 for full unprotected intercourse. That is a good hear. In this case there wasn't even any unprotected penetration. Just rubbing of the penis on the vagina opening and clitoris. So I am thinking the chances further reduce. Also doctor those two red spots whose pictures I sent you are nothing to worry about in this context right? I am guessing they aren't or you would have raised a flag in your reply. However just seeking full clarification to as not to leave any ambiguity in mind. Regards

I ABSOLUTELY hate bothering you again and again and again over this. However just for FULL clarity I am seeking to confirm that when you say 'rashes' you mean the ones in these two pics. I needn't worry about them right? You do not know what a big help you have been during this whole very troublesome phase. I really truly appreciate you help. Regards

Hi Doctor, I am very sorry to have to bother you again, but the thing is on the 30th I noticed an ulcer in my mouth on the inside of the lower gum. The night before that I had accidentally eaten piping hot soup. However I wasn't in agony or felt any burning sensation. I didn't think much of the blister that showed up the morning the next day. I (wrongly perhaps) applied dettol on the blister without diluting it with water or anything. Then a few hours applying dettol a whole bunch of blisters formed on the gum. I have had ulcers in the mouth before but never in a cluster like this. I showed it to out local medical compounder who comes home to check BP and stuff, while also giving the backstory of the hot soup drinking. He looked at it and said that they do appear to be burn type blisters and applying dettol was a mistake as the inside of the gum is very sensitive. He prescribed some vitamin tablets and an ointment, this afternoon. I have to say I do feel very slight relief. Those blisters were painful to touch even with the tongue and that seems a little more bearable. However after he left, I suddenly wondered about the HIV connection to the blisters. Since you already know the backstory I am writing to you the whole story of the ulcer/blister and have sent a photograph. I am getting a little worried again (I had been very relaxed after out last conversation till the ulcers showed up). I have not had any fever or flu yet or any set of rashes on the body. When the ulcer showed up it was 7 weeks and 3 days since the initial sexual incident. I request you to please help me puy my mind to rest regarding the ulcer/blisters. Regards

Dear Doctor, I am starting to get very worried. The ulcers/blisters got unbearable in the few days since I last contacted you. They made it impossible to eat anything and were very painful to touch even with my own tongue. However since yesterday things have improved. The ulcers are still there but they have started to lose their 'sting'. I can touch them with my tongue with almost no discomfort and even eating is a lot more bearable. I have just had the vitamin tablet so far and applied that gel. Hopefully the ulcers will fade out like this in a few days. However what has got me very worried is that in the past 2-4 days a group of red lesions has appeared on the back. They seemed similar to the ones that appeared on the left bicep earlier whose photographs I sent you. However they disappeared in a few days, the ones on the back are not showing much signs of disappearing and if anything have gotten darker. Naturally I am very freaked out and worried about these lesions. I have not had any fever or flu as yet. Please help.

Dear Doctor, Its been nearly a month since I last contacted you. Today is the completion of the 12th week from the date of the incident and I have not had fever or flu nor would I say I am covered head to toe in rashes. There were some lesions and red spots on a very limited part of the body, which I have already shown to you (in this rather long thread) and you have ruled out any link between them to HIV. That makes me very optimistic about the HIV situation, and in any case the odds of me having got it from the said encounter was very low as you explained, even less than 1 in 1000. The lesions in the last photographs that I sent you disappeared in a week. They formed a thin soft crust and that peeled off and the red spots underneath had become normal. The mouth ulcers also disappeared around 10th and I have been able to eat normally since then. I just took Vitamin tablets for that. The reason I contacted you today was simply to give you a brief summary of the whole thing and let you know that its been 12 weeks and I have remained more or less symptom free, and to thank you for your help in these troubling past weeks. Also I have noticed two boils/pimples (could be mosquito bites that I scratched in my sleep) on my right hand, which I just thought I will run them past you as a precaution. I know its nothing, but being the hypochondriac that I am, I would feel a lot better if I showed it to you. Please take a look and put my mind at ease again about HIV and those pimples. After this now that its been 12 weeks and I have had no fever or flu, I will just let this whole thing go for good. Kind regards

I dont remember where I read that exactly, but it had something to do with how if the fluid is exposed to air, it kills the virus and so the penetration would have to be deep and prolonged to contain hiv transmission risk, and why frottage (which is basically what I did), contains little risk. Additionally I found this question answered which was a near carbon copy of the situation I found myself in. where in the situation was described as a no risk. I think the person who answered it was perhaps over-stating a little, but even so it was comforting to read. Anyway even besides that point, its been more than a year and I feel fit or atleast no unhealthier than the previous year. I guess that is something. I dont know how advisable it is but I am trying to retrace the said woman, not to have sex with her again of course, but to sit and have a frank chat with her about her status. She had assured me she was HIV free when I spoke to her about it back then. If she is then nothing to worry. I dont even know what I am meeting her, perhaps to be re-assured again that she doesn't have HIV. Its all these anxieties that have come rushing back all of a sudden that I am having a hard time dealing with. I was fine for so long and had almost even forgotten that such a thing happened. But the passing of the 1 year point has brought all these things rushing back. Regards

Yeah its a scary thought and yet I dont have the guts to get tested. I don't. There is no way to explain around it. Anyway, I have heard that hiv causes thrush on tongue and stuff and that could be one way to tell. So here is a photograph of my tongue, (after I have brushed this morning mind you) Do you see any cause for worry based on the pic? Regards

Actually doctor I thought there is no point sending you only a picture of the tongue after it has been cleaned. So I am sending you pics of tongue before cleaning and after cleaning Now obviously the one after cleaning looks cleaner, but in either pic do you see any reason to worry. Additionally how is HIV related fungus different from general unfreshness one feels everyday before brushing? Does HIV fungus not go away even after brushing or comes back quickly after brushing and remain all through the day?

That is good to know doctor. Actually the reason I asked is for a friend. After I told him of the HIV test I had got done, he shared his HIV anxiety with me. Once he had gone for a massage which was one of those typical massage places which offered erotic massages. He had a deep shaving cut which was fresh and still red. Not bleeding out but the wound was still fresh and red. He went for a massage and during the erotic massage the masseuse touched his face several times, and her hands on multiple occasions made contact with the wound, and the hands may have had vaginal fluids on them, thereby making it very likely that the vaginal fluids made contact with the fresh wound through the hand. He didn't think much of it at that point, but once he realised the possibility of vaginal fluids touching the wound through the hands, he got worried. Anyway he told me of this incident so I said I will ask. However, as I understand from the query above that this activity (this hand with vaginal fluid touching the wound part) would carry no HIV risk whatsoever, correct? So should I tell him to relax and forget about it, and that there is no reason to get tested for this?