High ESR - worried about HIV

Dear Ask The Doctor: Hi Doctor, i had a general health checkup last week and just got my blood test reports. I have a slightly high ESR of 25, (a year and a half ago, my ESR was 21). All other test results (including for HIV) are ok. I am 31 years old, male, and feel quite healthy. I am slightly worried about possible HIV infection as i had unprotected sex on 1 occasion with my new girlfriend - that was 2 weeks before my test (as mentioned above, results are negative but i know it's too soon to tell). Do you think my high ESR level could be related to a possible HIV infection? Thank you.

Dear Shaft: ESR stands for erythrocyte sedimentation rate, which is a nonspecific test that indirectly measure acute or chronic inflammatory processes in the body, including infections, autoimmune diseases and cancers.  An increased result in this test does not indicate where the inflammation is or what is causing it. The ESR results are not related with HIV infection, which has very specific screening and confirmatory tests for its diagnosis.