QUESTION
A month ago I had sex with a guy who told me he was HIV-positive after we came.  I wore a condom, but I fingered him before hand.  I will definitely get tested, but how likely is it that I contracted HIV from fingering him?

ANSWER
It's unlikely that you could contract HIV by putting your finger in a positive man's butt.  HIV requires a fresh "door" into your body, like a cut, sore or fragile mucus membranes like the inside of your rectum.

Unless you had open sores on your finger and he had a cut in his butt, fingering him was a low risk activity. If you decide to have sex with this man again (or another HIV positive man) and you're still worried, you can reduce any minimal risk further by wearing latex gloves when finger him. The secondary benefit is you don’t have to worry about touching fecal matter if you don’t want to. Also, using plenty of lube will reduce the chance of small anal tears.

To your health,
Dr. K