RNA test question.

[Ud111]

How good is it and what about "window" time?

Can someone explain for me is it worth of money and i heard it's around $300..

[Ud111]

Thank you Teak.  

[Teak]

Early detection and conclusive are two different things. Any test may pick up antibodies anytime after 4 weeks, if so then a confirmative test will be ran. But to obtain a conclusive negative test result it is 3 months post exposure. In the mean time either obstain from having unprotected vaginal or anal sex or use a condom until you receive your conclusive result.

[Ud111]

so, it's waste of money as you said before, alright.. fair enough, what about riped testing?
i know the final is 3 months after encounter but is there anything that may be helpful to see about infection in little bit shorter period of time then 3 months?

[Teak]

1. You aren't a baby, and as it said it can assist. Just like in adults but it can not tell you if you are truely postive or not.

Now you were given the FDA guidelines and the CDC guidelines on the P24 antigen essays.

[Ud111]

The p24 antigen test can be of value in blood screening, for identification of acute infection, for monitoring infection, andto assist in the diagnosis of infection in the newborn (each is discussed subsequently). It has been used for detecting early infection in rape cases, identification of infection after occupational exposure, and for assisting in the resolution of indeterminate Western blot results. The degree to which p24 antigen assays can detect p24 antigen from all clades of HIV-1, HIV-2, and HIV-1 Group O, however, is unknown.

[Teak]

There are several uses, and mis-uses, of the p24 antigen assay. It is important to realize that the p24 antigen test detects soluble p24 antigen, presumably following viral replication, and does not specifically identify live virus. Therefore, a positive antigen test does not confirm that a sample is infectious, and should not be used for that purpose. The only means available to demonstrate that a sample contains infectious virus is by virus isolation and culture. A negative result for antigen does not rule out infection, because the test lacks exquisite sensitivity; i.e., the test should not be used to verify noninfection. Antigen detection signals infection, however, and positive results in seronegative individuals can be an effective, although not cost effective, means to identify early infection.

[Ud111]

But from what i read up on RNA test, that they are in fact focused on finding HIV virus it self in blood, and this way you can get information of you being infected or not based on HiV virus in your body before antibody starts developing.

is it so, or i'm just reading it wrong?

[Teak]

PCR-RNA tests are used in conjunction with antibody testing. PCR-RNA cannot give you a conclusive test result. Are they worth the money? Not in my book.