Those of you familiar with the normal distribution curve taught in all basic statistics classes will realize this...
When you think about the window period in terms of normal statistics, you begin to realize just how conservative the 6 month (and even 3 month) guidelines are. The average time to seroconversion is 25 days. Assuming this average was derived from a study of relatively large population, its safe
seroconverison lies on a normal distribution. This puts 25 days in the very middle of the distribution. While there is no data for the standard deviation for seroconversion, the earliest possible day one could seroconvert according to HHH is 10 days. That means that more than 99% of people will test positive in the 10-40 day range if they contracted HIV
. Of course you will always have outliers who are immunocompromised and may take longer, but when you think about statistics that is why so many people say a 6 weeker is almost always conclusive with even a 4 weeker being a damn good indication.