quest

[flowerpower778]

Hello I'm hpoing U can break this down for me. I don't understand what all this means. HIV 1/2 EIA ANTIBODY
                                                                                                                            SCREEN W/REFLEXES
                                                                                                                            HIV 1/2 EIA AB SCREEN
What does screen w/reflexes mean? Whats eia antibody? Whats eia ab screen?  Is it just standerd testing that quest diagnostics does or did I show a postive and thats what the screen with the reflexe was. I was non reative.

[flowerpower778]

I was just reading my test results on paper and no one explained it to me. When I saw the screen with reflexes I was like Did I have a postive reaction to the test. They don't let u know anything. Ur just subbposed to trust the person working on your test. Both my test had the same thing on paper. The whole screenw/reflexes. I just needed someones help to explain it to me. I'm glad they were both non reactive and passed the window period thing. Its a scary thing hiv. Thanks for peopole like u to help us all.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Your quesitionm is hard to follow.  I think you are saying that you had a positive screening test and a negative confiormatory test.   If that is what happened, it means that you had a false positve test or, in ohter words, you do not have evidence of an HIV infection.  If it happened twice or if a second, later screening test was negative, you do not need to be re-tested.  EWH

[flowerpower778]

IS it common for test to be positive durning the screening test. I had two of them done. One at 3 months and another at 7 months. Can I get ur thoughts if I should retest. The test I explained to u was the 7 month test. Non reative

[Edward W Hook, MD]

An ELISA test is that standard antibody test for HIV.  The ELISA test is used as a "screening" test.  The first test performed as part of a two-step testing process is called the "screening' test and the 2nd, test used to confirm the result of the screening test is the "confirmatory" test which is performed as a "reflex (i.e. automatically) on specimens which give a positive test result with the screening test.  This is standard testing procedure.

The term "reflex" means that if the ELISA is positive, a Western blot or similar test would be performed to confirm whether the result is a true positive or a false positive result.  Reflex testing is highly recommended to make sure that infections that are identified are really an infection and not just an artifact of the lab test.

The HIV 1/2 term means that the tests for antibodies to both HIV-1 and HIV-2.  EWH

[flowerpower778]

Sorry about the way it turned up on my post. It was different when I wrote it