Sean Cummings
Total live articles: 16
Questions: 0
Answers: 3
Dr Sean Cummings is a doctor with a special interest in HIV and STD testing, treatment and prevention. He owns and runs a large, busy private Clinic in Central London. Sean has pioneered an easy, efficient and friendly HIV and STD testing system and he and his colleagues Dr Jose Gonazlez-Garcia, Dr Mervyn Tyrer and Mr Lee Garrett RN, BSc strive always to offer the best possible care, both in terms of available technology and in terms of doctor-patient relationships. Freedomhealth offers onsite and also remote assistance to existing and new patients. A paid for Sexual Health Forum with profits going to various charities, allows people to ask difficult questions anonymously. Sean and his colleagues contribute to the Medhelp.org UK International Forums also.
Recent Activity
Very many hundreds of thousands of termination of pregnancies occur through the world because of basic failure of contraception. Many studies have shown that men and women don't know what contraceptive methods are available, which contraceptives work and how and how best to use emergency hormonal contraception or the morning after pill.
I had unprotected sex 6 years back and after 1 year got HIV test which came as -ve.I later got married and never had sex with anyone else.Can virus develope now?
The very straight forward answer is no.
HIV results from contact with sexual contact with someone who has the infection. Assuming your current partner is HIV negative then it is impossible for you to develop it now via sexual contact.
HIV is caught, not created.
best wishes, Sean
Hi I got tested for HIV about 2 months after sleeping with my current girlfriend for 2 years. The test came back negative. Should I be tested again it has been 2 years and I do not hace any symptoms?
The key is which test you used - you will need to ask your provider. There are several generations of HIV tests. The most common in both the USA and Europe is the third generation antibody test. This is highly accurate and will give you greater than 99% accuracy at 6 weeks post exposure.
A fourth generation HIV test includes both testing for antibodies to HIV 1 and HIV 2 and also looks for something called the p24 antigen which is a by-product of HIV viral replication. This test will give you greater than 99.89% accuracy
Hi just a question on the HIV duo test. I took the test at 10.5 weeks post exposure and my result came back negative. I'm now worried that at 10.5 weeks it might have been the wrong test??
The HIV DUO test is a 4th generation HIV test. This means that it looks for and detects, if present, both antibodies to HIV 1 and 2 and also the p24 antigen. p24 antigen is a byproduct of HIV viral replication and is produced in huge quantity in the early stages of infection.
P24 reaches very high levels at around 10 days or so after infection and stays very high for 8 to 10 weeks or so.
Greater than 99% of newly diagnosed HIV positive people will be antibody positive by 6 weeks using modern
The commonly quoted figure for HIV transmission between heterosexual couples is around one HIV transmission per 1000 sexual contacts or 0.001% chance per episode. The question that many patients ask us at Freedomhealth is that if that figure is true, how come so many people have HIV worldwide? The answer is a complex one refelecting a mix of interacting and often conspiring co-factors, which may enhance or reduce the overall risk.
Photoaging, or photodamage as it is also known, is characterised by features including wrinkles, loss of skin elasticity, redness and a change in skin texture or colour. Photoaging is caused by damage from Ultraviolet (UV) light which comes from exposure to the sun and is one of two main categories in skin ageing; the other being intrinsic ageing which is due to simply getting older.
It is thought around 70% of people who contract HIV will develop symptoms when they are seroconverting. Seroconversion is the period between exposure to the HIV virus and the completion of the initial response of your immune system. It lasts about two to three months, though the symptoms will last for a shorter period. Seroconversion is also known as acute HIV infection.
Following the introduction late 2009 of the early HIV and Hepatitis C testing scheme, we're able now to expand the service both in terms of the tests we are able to run and also in terms of the availability of the test across the world, using innovative delivery and collection systems. These tests allow for effective diagnosis or ruling out of early HIV and early Hepatitis C after only seven days post exposure.
One of the biggest problems in the industrialised countires in terms of managing HIV is the number of people who reamin untested and do not know they have the condition. Accessibility to HIV and STD testing methods is one of the great challenges. Freedomhealth has devised a novel method where people can request an anonymous test kit to be sent to them at home or work or at a friends house.
The best HIV test is one that provides you with an accurate and reassuring result in a time frame that suits you best. Everybody will have a different "best HIV test" because their circumstances will be slightly different. The main things to think about are firstly when you were possibly exposed to HIV and secondly how desperately you need to know the answer. The exposure time is important because it allows us to calculate the HIV window period, which is the time from HIV infection to detection.
