1. EMERGENCY TREATMENT
If you forget to put a condom or it breaks, if you are wounded or cut with a blood stained item, if you have shared IV drug equipment, there are treatments (emergency treatments – post-exposure treatments) that can prevent you from being infected by HIV.
• Be quick to react! Within hours, in any case less than 48 hours after taking a risk. Past this period, no treatment can eliminate the virus in case of infection.
• Get in touch with the nearest hospital: go to the emergency department and tell them you had an accidental exposure to HIV. If you can, it is better to go consulting with your partner.
• If there really is a risk of infection, the doctor who will see you will prescribe you a four-weeks treatment.
These medicines are delivered from the hospital’s pharmacy; they are free. They are the same medicines as those taken by persons infected with HIV. They are generally well endured, but can have undesirable effects. Tell the doctor if you are already following another treatment or have an hepatitis.
To talk about it, to get details of an hospital or CDAG, call Sida Info Service at +33 (0) 800 840 800 (24 hours/7 days, calls are anonymous and free from a fixed phone).
2. AIDS TEST
When to make a test?
When to make a test?
After the first 48 hours have passed, you’ll have to wait 10 to 15 days to make an Aids test and know if you are infected or not.
Risk taking
Less than 48h: Emergency treatment.10-15 days: A test is possible, but a negative result is not 100% reliable.
3 months: A negative result is 100% reliable.
How is the test conducted?
1. A blood sample is taken from you.2. You come back and are handed your test results.
3. Whether HIV-negative or -positive, you must keep on protecting yourself (condom, single-use injection equipment).
Positive or negative test: what does it mean?
If the test results are positive, this means you are HIV positive, you are carrying the HIV. It is then very important to consult an HIV specialist to receive a good medical care. This allows to keep healthy and get a treatment if needed. Today, it is possible to live for a very long time with HIV, but a medical follow-up is necessary.
Sometimes, the test results are indeterminate or partly positive. This can be because of another disease, or because the HIV infection is recent. You’ll have to talk about it with the doctor and, usually, make another Aids test.
If the results are negative, and three months have passed since risk taking, then there is certainty you are not infected by HIV.
