Questions on Testing

Hi,

I am a female and I had  unprotected sex with a male on November 22,2010. I went and got tested for HIV at Planned Parenthood on December 14, 2010. The test was negative.  I was wondering what the reliability of this test was?

I plan to go back to Planned Parenthood for another HIV test on January 5, 2011 (which I think will be about 6 weeks after the exposure I described). How reliable will this test be? The planned parenthood I will be testing at uses a rapid hiv test with blood from a finger prick.

They told me at Planned Parenthood that I must wait 3 months for a conclusive test result. I have read differently, so I'm just curious of your opinion.

Thank you so much for your time.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Welcome to our Forum.  Before I comment on the reliability of the tests (which are quite high), let me comment on your risk for HIV. Presuming that your partner was a heterosexual male who did not use IV drugs, his risk of having HIV is less than 1 in 1000 an probably closer to 1 in 10,000.   In addition, the risk of HIV transmission occurring following a single act of unprotected intercourse with an infected partner is about 1 infection per 1,000 acts of intercourse.  Thus, your mathematical risk of HIV following sex with a partner of unknown status is about 1 in a million.  That is not to say that testing is not a good idea, it is, but it is to place things in perspective.

Now the tests.  Currently available test for detection of HIV are highly reliable and at 6 weeks detect over 95% of recently acquired infections.   At 8 weeks virtually all infections are detectable.  The recommendations for testing at 3 and even 6 months, which is still the current" party line" at CDC and thus many other organizations like PPH are the result of two factors- data from older tests no longer used (you really do not need to worry about which generation of tests you were tested with, at this time virtually all tests are far more sensitive that they were even 2-3 years ago when the 3 month recommendation was made) and secondly, the fact that some, mostly governmental agencies which have to provide recommendations for virtually everyone without the sort of interactions such as those you get with your doctor or on personalized sites such as this one, feel the cannot "afford" to be wrong and therefore make recommendations and guidelines which leave most people unnecessarily nervous for 4-6 weeks longer than the 6-8 weeks it takes virtually everyone to develop HIV antibodies.  

I hope this comment is helpful to you.  EWH

[worried8376]

Hi there,

Thank you for your quick response!
I think I should of mentioned that I also had unprotected  sex with a man on October 15, 2010, and then again on November 17, 2010 and then then again on November 22, 2010 ( the most recent one being the incident I described in my first post.) All three of these incidents were with different men. I  know this kind of behavior is inappropriate and I will not be putting myself in anymore situations like this. So now knowing this information, would testing 6 weeks after the most recent unprotected sex incident still be 95 % accurate? And would you recommend testing after the 8 week mark?

Thanks again, and I'm sorry I didn't include all info in first posting.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Yes, it would be 95% accurate for the partner 6 weeks earlier and even more accurate for partners before that time.  EWH

[worried8376]

Thank you Doctor! I will be going next week to ease my mind. So would you consider the 6 week test conclusive or should I follow up at 8 weeks?

Thanks.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

You have to make that decision.  Statistically, given the other considerations there is almost no chance that there will be a difference betweeen your 6 weeks result and your 8 week result.  Personally, I would consider the 6 weeks result sufficient to not seek further testing.  EWH

[worried8376]

Thanks Doctor, you have truly made me feel better and I am not suffering from massive anxiety anymore. I will probably go at 8 weeks just so I have no reason at all to worry.

Thanks again!

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Glad to help. Take care.  EWH

[worried8376]

I went and got my HIV test today at Planned Parenthood. It was negative! The test they used on me was a a rapid test using blood from a finger prick. I got my results in about 10 minutes. Are these rapid test as reliable as others? Do these kind of test detect hiv 1 and hiv 2?

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Yes, the rapid tests are highly reliable. EWH

[worried8376]

Do these rapid test used at planned parenthood detect both hiv 1 and hiv 2? The rapid HIV test used on me was using blood from a finger prick and  I got my result in about 10 minutes.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

You asked this question and I answered it.  I understand how lon it takes for them to be done.   I repeat, these tests are highly reliable.  EWH

[worried8376]

Oh sorry. I didn't know you were answering the question about it detecting HIV 1 and HIV 2, I thought you were just commenting that they were accurate. I actually talked to planned parenthood today and they told me the test I had there does not test for HIV 2. They told me that if I wanted they could send out to the lab to test for HIV 2 antibodies or however these test work.
Thanks for your time.