12 Chapter 12

The counselor was continuing. “…If you have the virus, it won’t be detectable for six weeks. Even if you are negative at that time, you will still need to be tested every three months for the first year. Then we can be almost certain you are safe. However, you should understand in some cases the virus may not show up for five or more years. However, since you only had one encounter and took the necessary actions following, I would say you can be reasonably confident you will be all right.”

“In the meantime?” Kevin asked.

“In the meantime use protection. Continue to exercise, get proper nutrition, rest. All the things you would do if you were just trying to stay healthy.”

“So, it's only contracted through intercourse?”

“We know it's contracted through both vaginal and anal intercourse. There is some evidence that it could be passed orally either through sexual contact or kissing, but there are no confirmed cases of oral transmission to date.”

“And the test?”