hiv test after 4 weeks

if one had protected vaginal or anal sex and unprotected oral sex with a csw in asia, thailand or singapore, and had an hiv test done at 28 days, the question is how accurate is that test?

i have read that 28 days can be a good indication or a bad data point in terms of accuracy.

can you help?

thank you.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Welcome back to the forum.  But questions about timing of HIV tests are the most common of all questions on this forum.  You probably could have easily found this answer by simply any 10 threads at random.

The stand-alone antibody tests pick up around 90-95% of new HIV infections at 4 weeks; you need to go out to 6-8 weeks tor each 100%.  Standard advice, however, is 3 months -- which provides a margin of safety.

If your 4 week test was a combo (or "duo") test for both HIV antibody and p24 antigen, then it was 100% reliable at 4 weeks.

Below are a couple of threads that discuss these issues.  They should answer any other questions you may have about it.  Read the entire threads; the important information is in the follow-up comments.

Please note that MedHelp permits a maximum of 2 questions every 6 months on the professionally moderated forums; this will have to be your last one until next August.  (Just a warning so you don't risk losing a nonrefundable posting fee on a question that would be deleted without reply.)

Regards-- HHH, MD

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/1347755
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/1345664