If you go to the GGD for a consultation about a suspected early HIV infection, the doctor will have a talk with you first. This is so that he or she can assess how likely it is that you do indeed have an early HIV infection. This is followed by an Antigen/Antibody Combination Test. Most HIV infections can be detected with this test. You may have come a little too soon, meaning an HIV infection doesn't show up on the Combination Test.

Based on your story and your symptoms, the doctor may still think you have an HIV infection. If so, he or she will talk to you about the other options for testing. If your Combination Test or follow-up test detects HIV, the GGD will send you straight to an HIV treatment center near you. This is usually a ward in one of the larger hospitals in the region. You can start treatment as soon as possible. You can wait for a bit, but this is not advisable. Starting treatment quickly is better for your health and ensures you have an undetectable viral load earlier, meaning you cannot pass the virus on to others.

Have you taken risks but you don't have any symptoms that indicate an early HIV infection? Get yourself tested for HIV 6 weeks after the risky sex, because some people who have caught HIV don't experience any symptoms.

Depending on how often you have sex, get yourself tested for HIV and STIs 2 to 4 times a year.

You can protect yourself against HIV by:

1. Taking PrEP. Read all about this HIV prevention pill on mantotman.nl/prep

2. Use condoms and lube. This reduces the chance of getting STIs. In principle, condoms offer good protection against HIV, but a condom can tear or slip off, or be damaged if it is used for too long.

3. Having sex with HIV-positive partners who have an undetectable viral load. Successful treatment of HIV ensures that the virus can no longer be transmitted. Transmission of HIV almost always occurs during sex with someone who doesn't know he is HIV-positive.

4. PEP: this is a pretty tough cure, and is seen as a kind of morning after pill for HIV infections. A PEP cure is only prescribed when you have been at actual risk of HIV. You should ask the GGD, or accident & emergency, for PEP immediately following your risky sex. It?s a tough cure and it is deducted from the excess that has to be paid for health costs (eigen risico). So PEP is only for emergencies.

HIV can be detected with a Combo Test (fourth-generation Ag / Ab HIV Combination Test), starting 2 weeks after infection. Both the GGD, Man tot Man Testlab and your family doctor use this test. Sometimes it takes longer before HIV can be found in your blood. The GGD can give you advice on when to do a second test if necessary.

Men who have sex with men can get free HIV and STI tests at the GGD. The GGDs have a limited budget and capacity for this. It's often quicker to go to your family doctor. The cost of a consultation, the tests and any treatment carried out by your family doctor are deducted from the excess that has to be paid for health costs (eigen risico) in your health insurance.

If you don't fall into one of the at-risk groups that receive free treatment at the GGD, your family doctor is the best option.