HIV test came back "Indeterminate"; I am very scared

I am a 25 year old male. Two summers ago I had heterosexual, unprotected intercourse with a woman. Last April I did the same thing. I did know either of these women. I know-- I am a fool for doing this.

About a month after sleeping with the woman I slept with in April, I caught a short cold. This worried me, as I'm aware it's a symptom of HIV. I waited until December 27th, 2012 (about a week ago) to get tested. The results came back indeterminate today.

The results say that this could be because I'm within the early HIV stages of infection (the window-- this is unlikely as I slept with this woman back in April, eight months ago.) Alternatively, the results say "This may be due to cross-reactivity with tissue antigens present in the test system." Could someone please translate this into English for me? Is this normal? I'm very worried.

[joggen]

No, you would not be seroconverting this late. Most indeterminate results resolve negative and your exposures were relatively low risk.

Do you have more detailed results? Do you happen to know which bands were present or absent?

[joggen]

No, you would not be seroconverting this late. Most indeterminate results resolve negative and your exposures were relatively low risk.

Do you have more detailed results? Do you happen to know which bands were present or absent?

[peacewalker]

No sir, I don't-- I'm told to get tested again in three months. I'm agonizing over it. Also on the results was a note saying "HIV 1 and 2 Screening test Positive." What does this mean? Please tell me good news; I am terrified.

[playdoh07]

The hiv 1/2 screening is an antibody test. Which has returned hiv positive. You need a western blot to confirm any positive test. Have you had one yet?

[Teak]

He hasn't tested positive.

[playdoh07]

He just said his hiv screen was positive. Thats why i said he needs a western blot to confirm

[peacewalker]

Excuse me, playdoh07, please-- I am so scared. I did not say that I tested positive, but that the results were "Indeterminate." I don't understand this lingo, but the results came back indeterminate. I am clinging to that. For anyone out there who actually knows what this means and/or studies microbiology, please talk to me.

[playdoh07]

No sir, I don't-- I'm told to get tested again in three months. I'm agonizing over it. Also on the results was a note saying "HIV 1 and 2 Screening test Positive." What does this mean? Please tell me good news; I am terrified.
.


you said that on the results was a note saying "hiv 1/2 screening test positive"

your words.

so what was the name of the test that you had?

[Teak]

About a month after sleeping with the woman I slept with in April, I caught a short cold. This worried me, as I'm aware it's a symptom of HIV. I waited until December 27th, 2012 (about a week ago) to get tested. The results came back indeterminate today.


Now where did he state he tested positive.  "indeteminate" is not positive.

[joggen]

Indeterminate results are common and there are all kinds of reasons for them. As I said, most result negative. Plus, you appear to have had a low risk exposure. If you can get the detailed results of the WB I can comment further, otherwise there isn't much that we can tell you.

[playdoh07]

Third post down

[playdoh07]

I am aware indeterminate does not mean positive. On his third post down he said screening for hiv 1/2 positive

[nursegirl6572]

What kind of test did you have?  It's hard to make sense of just part of the results being posted...it could be taken out of context.

Like you were already told, an indeterminate result is neither positive nor negative, that's why it's called an "indeterminate".  That means there was not enough evidence found to call it a positive result, but that a portion of the test was reasctive, therefore it couldn't be called negative either.  The WB will sort it out.  Have you taken a Western Blot test yet?