Aa
cost of antibody test & testing guidelines
hello there,
i've had done several antibody tests in the last 6 month in well respected labs. where i live (in latin america), cost of a QEIA test is around 10 US dollars without using insurance. ECLIA test its around 12 US dollars.. as supposed to the US where i read that standard EIA antibody test cost can be as high as 50 US dollars. is this correct?
anyhow, first time i took the test, lab handed me a 'brochure' advising to test at 3 month, 6 month, and 9 month to avoid posibility of late 'seroconversion'. Doctor says 6 months is enough.
My questions are : could there be a difference in terms of generations? 2nd as supposed to 3rd? or in terms of quality? can this be the reason of why price differential are so big? and if so, can it be the reason for the expanded guidelines for testing here?
thanks!
i've had done several antibody tests in the last 6 month in well respected labs. where i live (in latin america), cost of a QEIA test is around 10 US dollars without using insurance. ECLIA test its around 12 US dollars.. as supposed to the US where i read that standard EIA antibody test cost can be as high as 50 US dollars. is this correct?
anyhow, first time i took the test, lab handed me a 'brochure' advising to test at 3 month, 6 month, and 9 month to avoid posibility of late 'seroconversion'. Doctor says 6 months is enough.
My questions are : could there be a difference in terms of generations? 2nd as supposed to 3rd? or in terms of quality? can this be the reason of why price differential are so big? and if so, can it be the reason for the expanded guidelines for testing here?
thanks!
Testing guidelines are obtataining the baseline and receiving the conclusive test. Not all places have socialized medicines and those that do it is false to say the tests are free, taxes pay for the tests and healthcare.
Any good HIV specialist or doctor will always advise to test twice,once at either 4 or 6 weeks and then at 3 months.How many posters on here have you heard of testing only once in 3 months--around 10% if that.In Australia the elisa and DUO are free and even the RNA is not expensive.It's the DNA that costs alot of money--but even with that test medicare will refund half of the cost.
The cost of healthcare in the US is typically high, as a general rule. This is why we don't recommend testing multiple times, it just is not necessary.
either people are really getting ripped off in the US or they are selling garbage here... generally 'things' are a bit more expensive here...
Testing in the US is generally more expensive. Standard HIV ELISA test is around 50 a DUO test is around 164 dollars.
hello teak... what's your take in the cost differential? why do you think is it so much cheaper for me to get an antibody test in my country as supposed to people living in US? maybe government subsidy or something?...
There are no test marketed or sold to give a conclusive negative test earlier than 3 months post exposure.
the experts on this forum and world wide doctors all consider any generations test to be highly accurate after 3 months no matter what type of genertation it is. The only time generations can make a big difference is when they are used in the specific time frame for instance a DUO which is a 4th gen test would be highly accurate at 4 weeks, were as a 3rd generation Antibody test wouldnt be much useful at 4 weeks but at 6 weeks + would be highly accurate. But either way since you tested past 3 months your HIV NEGATIVE. move on and use condoms
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