Please help to interpret my HIV test results

Hi,

I am really scared I am seroconverting now.

I had a spate of protected sex with various prostitutes (about 20?) over a 3-month period. I don't know why I did it but I did. I wasn't sure when the last exposure was but the latest was 30 Sep 2010. During all of my exposures, I wore a condom. However I would have the prostitutes lick the shaft/scrotum after sex (with condom off) but not the exposed penis head.

I have plans to get married next year and I went to get a HIV test. I do not know the test but it asks for a pinprick worth of blood and then the strip shows 2 lines if positive and 1 if not after 15 minutes.

I went for the test on 6 Oct and the first tester pricked too much blood from my finger i.e. it was flowing profusely. This 1st test came back with a very very faint positive line. I was advised to take a second test immediately which I did, and this one came back negative, no line at all. The next day, 7 Oct, I took another test and this one too came back completely negative. Since then, my mood has been swinging between guilt (to my gf and family and myself) and optimism that the 2 negative tests were the ones I should trust. So finally I decided to post here.

My questions are:
1. If i already have HIV and am currently seroconverting, could the tests come back the way they did with one faint positive and two clear negatives? Or will someone seroconverting always show faint positive lines?
2. What are my odds of getting HIV? I had a condom on always but kissed and also got my genitals (minus the penis head) licked.
3. I plan to get tested again on 10 Oct, about 6 weeks after my last confirmed exposure. Will this be good enough to show for sure I am HIV negative?
4. Could the faint positive line for my first test be due to too much blood placed on the strip and it flowing down to cause the faint line?

Please somebody respond, I have been a wreck the past few days...

[reallyregret]

Hi hundroog123,

First, you had protected sex, all of them. If you were sure the condoms were all fine, then you have had no risk from your activities. Your oral sex activities were no risk as well.

The test you had was a rapid test. There is another kind which is lab based, whereby they will draw a tube of blood from your veins and send it to the lab for testing. Both the rapid test and the lab test are antibody tests.

You most certainly will be fine and are not infected by the activities you have described.

1. A seroconverting person may or may not test positive on the rapid test. After seroconversion, the test will then be positive. However, i have read that faint lines on the rapid test tend to be false positives (ie: negative on the confirmatory western blot test).
You may take a look at the link below which describes a study which found that the faint lines were false positives. I hope it eases your anxiety on the faint line you had seen.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0004351

2. Zero! no risk from condom protected activities. Oral poses no risk.

3. You didnt need testing to begin with from the no risk activities you described.
However, on a personal note, it is generally advisable for sexually active individuals to have periodic std and hiv checks just to be sure all is well. Since you already plan to get tested again, 6-8 weeks will be a good time, which will prove that you did not get infected from your no risk activities.

4. There are many reasons for a faint line appearing. My knowledge regarding this issue is not deep enough to be able to answer this question. Perhaps someone else can help out on this. But you can view the internet link i have attached in question 1 to ease your anxiety.

I can fully understand the kind of anxiety and guilt you are facing now, it must be really a tough time for you right now. But you really have no risk, and in all likelihood, are not infected.
Take care ok? You will be fine.


May God bless


reallyregret

[reallyregret]

Hi hundroog123,

First, you had protected sex, all of them. If you were sure the condoms were all fine, then you have had no risk from your activities. Your oral sex activities were no risk as well.

The test you had was a rapid test. There is another kind which is lab based, whereby they will draw a tube of blood from your veins and send it to the lab for testing. Both the rapid test and the lab test are antibody tests.

You most certainly will be fine and are not infected by the activities you have described.

1. A seroconverting person may or may not test positive on the rapid test. After seroconversion, the test will then be positive. However, i have read that faint lines on the rapid test tend to be false positives (ie: negative on the confirmatory western blot test).
You may take a look at the link below which describes a study which found that the faint lines were false positives. I hope it eases your anxiety on the faint line you had seen.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0004351

2. Zero! no risk from condom protected activities. Oral poses no risk.

3. You didnt need testing to begin with from the no risk activities you described.
However, on a personal note, it is generally advisable for sexually active individuals to have periodic std and hiv checks just to be sure all is well. Since you already plan to get tested again, 6-8 weeks will be a good time, which will prove that you did not get infected from your no risk activities.

4. There are many reasons for a faint line appearing. My knowledge regarding this issue is not deep enough to be able to answer this question. Perhaps someone else can help out on this. But you can view the internet link i have attached in question 1 to ease your anxiety.

I can fully understand the kind of anxiety and guilt you are facing now, it must be really a tough time for you right now. But you really have no risk, and in all likelihood, are not infected.
Take care ok? You will be fine.


May God bless


reallyregret

[LIZZIE LOU]

the long and short of it is that you DONT have hiv from what you described.

[hundroog123]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your time. My fear comes from that faint positive test. I found this on an official looking website regarding the Abbott Determine test http://www.determinetest.com/about_hiv/faq.aspx:

"6. The Test Line was fainter than the Control Line, what does this mean?
The test result is positive even if the Test Line appears lighter or darker than the Control Line."

This is what's making me so afraid even though I know I used condoms always and to the best of my knowledge they were not torn/ripped (I did not actually check after sex).

Do 2 negatives on the rapid test override the 1 faint positive? Can someone HIV positive still produce 2 negative results after 1 faint positive result?

I'm sorry about so many questions,

[hundroog123]

To boil everything down to one question: do the 2 negatives show that the faint positive line was a false? (Two of the volunteer testers actually told me the faint positive might be a test-strip malfunction but that these are extremely rare.)

[LIZZIE LOU]

forget about that "faint" line...false positives are not uncommon on rapid tests.

you never had a risk...therefore you CANT have hiv.

[hundroog123]

Thanks Lizzie, I am just worried that there was condom slippage/breakage. And of course the faint false positive did not help. Will be getting a rapid test done soon and again at 3 mths and I sure hope you're right...

[Vance2335]

Slipping is not a risk, and you know if the condom breaks.

[hundroog123]

Hi Vance... how would you know if the condom breaks?

[hundroog123]

What I mean is, I never checked any of the condoms after sex so I would not know if they were torn/broken. and the faint positive line just keeps screwing with my head

[Vance2335]

When the condom comes off there is nothing covering your penis. You don't even need to look at the condom to know it is broken.

[hundroog123]

Hi Vance, I agree with your 1st sentence. The 2nd, I'm not so sure, there's just no way to know if there's a tear.

Anyway I hope all of you are right and I wasn't at risk. Will take the test once the window is over...

[Vance2335]

When a condom break is breaks and no longer covers the penis. The only way to take it off is from the base because that is the only thing that is still around the penis.

[hundroog123]

Hi all, I went for my test 3 weeks after my last confirmed "clean" date and got a negative. I will take another one at 6 weeks and hopefully that one comes back negative too. I'm getting more relieved every time a test comes back negative but that 1st faint line always plays back in my head.

Thanks all for the advice/support on the forums, it's been really helpful.