Had Unprotected Sex. Having Stomach Ache. Blood Work Showed High Monocyte Level. Could Hiv Be Involved?

Posted on Wed, 29 Aug 2012

Question: HI, i recently got blood work done on 8/2/12 due to stomach aches, and they told me i had a high monocyte level but that it wasnt anything to worry about because it wasnt to high. Could hiv be involved? also i had unprotected sex about 4 months ago. i was tested about 1 month n a half months after unprotected sex and it was negative but now im worried because of the high monocyte level. please help me ease my worries. thank you.

Answered by Dr. Aparna Kohli (6 hours later)

Hi XXXXXXX
Thanks for writing in.
A high monocyte level is not related to HIV. This could be due to several other reasons like viral infections, parasitic infections or a chronic inflammatory process. It can be a non specific process as well. To rule out HIV however, we would need to do a ELISA for HIV-1 and HIV-2 since you do have that history. If this is negative, HIV is conclusively ruled out.
Also, I would suggest that you always choose protected intercourse. There are way too many sexually transmitted diseases apart from HIV that we need to be wary about.
Hope that helps
Regards

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar