Q: I am a 29 years old male. A few days back, I had sex with a girl and my condom was left inside. I underwent a test for HIV / AIDS. The result came out to be negative. But the doctor asked me to take another test after 3 months. What are my chances of getting AIDS in this case?

A:If by any chance the girl was infected with HIV (and that is not certain) then I am afraid you have been exposed to the chance of HIV infection. However even if the woman was HIV positive, it is by no means certain that you will get infected. Let us hope you are not infected. To be sure you should have a test done. The usual test such as ELISA or Rapid or Simple tests do not give a reliable result in the window period. In other words you have to wait for at least 3 months before having a reliable test. If the test is negative at that time, get another test done after another 12 weeks. If it is again negative you can be sure that you have not got HIV infection from the original exposure. Please remember however if the test is positive, please get the test repeated and only believe the report if the second (confirmatory) test is also positive. A single positive test should not be treated as conclusive. There are other tests that give results before 3 months, however they are special and expensive.