Possible false positive results?

[paul_82]

Hi, I am really worried about my test results. I know I have been told that oral sex is not a risk but my question regards something else. I am fairly sure I have developed an internal candida infection (I have lots of the symptoms), probably as a result of the 3 different anti-biotics I had to take to get rid of NGU a couple months back. I am going to start taking pro-biotics and change my diet to fight this.

I am awaiting HIV and syphilis results but I have just read that having a candida infection can result in a false positive! I dont think I could handle that stress. Apparently the HIV test is non-specific so if my body has released antibodies to fight the candida infection then it will show up on the HIV test and come back positive!

Is this true? Can anyone confirm? I am already in a state of extreme anxiousness over my results I dont think I could cope if they came back positive, even if it did prove to be false.

[Teak]

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[paul_82]

Teak, I know that oral sex is not a risk. I've accepted that. What I am asking about is the risk that a candida infection, brought on by antiboitics, may cause a false positive result? If my body has produced anti-bodies for some other infection, could this be mistaken for an HIV infection?

I'm sorry, I just don't really know how specific the tests are and I have read that this could be an issue. Correct me if I am wrong.

[regularjoey]

Candida infection is not associated with false positive HIV test results. If you want to reduce the risk of getting a false positive result my advice is to avoid the rapid tests. You will wait longer with the regular test, but the result will be more accurate.