Very worried about possible HIV symptoms

Dear Ask The Doctor: Hi I am freaking out and need some advise to help ease my anxiety. I am a 20 yr old male and 4 weeks ago I had unprotected vaginal intercourse with a girl i presume was a similar age in a nightclub. 4 week after the incident I developed flu like symptoms which included a fever that lasted roughly 1 day, night sweats, muscle aches and pains. this was followed by cold symptoms which included runny nose sore through dry cough etc. after a week when everything went away I still had night sweats and now I am freaking out I have HIV or something. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated

Dear Davor: A person may get infected with HIV very fast (within a day or two), but you have to wait a while before an HIV test will produce an accurate result. The period of time you should wait before taking an HIV test will depend on the type of test that you are taking. In the majority of cases, the standard test that will be offered at an HIV testing center will be an HIV antibody Test. The HIV antibody Test detects antibodies to the virus in your blood. For most of the people these antibodies take 6 weeks to 3 months to develop, sometimes, in very rare cases, may take up to 6 months. For this reason, getting tested before 3 months have passed may result in an unclear test result, as the infected person may not yet have developed antibodies to HIV. These 3 – 6 months are known as the 'window period'. Many people do not show symptoms after they first get infected with HIV. Others have a flu-like illness within several days to weeks after exposure to the virus. They complain of: fever, headache, tiredness, and swollen nodes in the neck. These symptoms usually disappear within a few weeks. After that, the person feels normal and has no symptoms. The development of the disease is different among individuals. This asymptomatic state may last from a few months to more than 10 years. Even though the person has no symptoms, is contagious and can pass HIV to others.  So, I recommend you to wait for at least 3 months after the last time you consider you were at risk before taking the test.