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HIV Prevention Community
If you believe you have been exposed to HIV and want help to judge your risk, would like advice about HIV testing, or have questions about the effectiveness of condoms or risks associated with specific sexual practices, this is the site for you.
6 WEEK TEST REASSURANCE
by ConvincedOne, Oct 14, 2007 08:39PM
Australia which Dr.HHH states has one of the best testing clinics in Sydney recommend s 6-8 week testing.
"Just thought I'd mention I went to see another doc today, again an hiv specialist in the middle of sydney's gay district to get a second opinion. After telling him everything, he too was adamant I was hiv free. He says he has never seen a patient(and he's seen gadzillions, and all gay)that was experiencing a true seroconversion illness ('ars'symptoms for you americans)that didn't show something on the western blot - 'something' meaning the faintest band of any type. Interestingly, he was repeating what my first doc (who also deals with hiv all day with mostly gay patients)said the same thing word for word. They both say within a week of onset of true seroconversion illness symptoms (no wonder you guys just call it 'ars') something is going to show on this test. I had two full sets of tests, (dna pcr, elisa antigen and western blot) at 7days and 21 days after the onset of symptoms, all the while experiencing symptoms, and in particular a big fat fever (that left me so listless I couldn't even think what my name was) for a good five hours that occurred four days after the first round of tests. He said the fact that your second round of tests was around 10 days after the big fever didn't register anything on any of those tests, proves you've got nothing to worry about. Further, my neg elisa antigen test at seven weeks(minus two days)post last sexual exposure (and 45 days after onset of symptoms)was further proof. I asked him about the six week thing, and he said(as did my first doc AND the people from the Sydney Sexual Health Centre that DR H regards as one of the premier STD clinics in the world)six weeks is where its at for the window period BUT 3 months for legal reasons. It certainly gives one heart."
"Just thought I'd mention I went to see another doc today, again an hiv specialist in the middle of sydney's gay district to get a second opinion. After telling him everything, he too was adamant I was hiv free. He says he has never seen a patient(and he's seen gadzillions, and all gay)that was experiencing a true seroconversion illness ('ars'symptoms for you americans)that didn't show something on the western blot - 'something' meaning the faintest band of any type. Interestingly, he was repeating what my first doc (who also deals with hiv all day with mostly gay patients)said the same thing word for word. They both say within a week of onset of true seroconversion illness symptoms (no wonder you guys just call it 'ars') something is going to show on this test. I had two full sets of tests, (dna pcr, elisa antigen and western blot) at 7days and 21 days after the onset of symptoms, all the while experiencing symptoms, and in particular a big fat fever (that left me so listless I couldn't even think what my name was) for a good five hours that occurred four days after the first round of tests. He said the fact that your second round of tests was around 10 days after the big fever didn't register anything on any of those tests, proves you've got nothing to worry about. Further, my neg elisa antigen test at seven weeks(minus two days)post last sexual exposure (and 45 days after onset of symptoms)was further proof. I asked him about the six week thing, and he said(as did my first doc AND the people from the Sydney Sexual Health Centre that DR H regards as one of the premier STD clinics in the world)six weeks is where its at for the window period BUT 3 months for legal reasons. It certainly gives one heart."
I found this
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2095005
But cant really find what device a particular lab is using. I would like to get a 3-4 generation test done.
Abbott AxSYM HIV 1/2 gO assay - is this a 3rd generation assay?
Bayer chemiluminometric immunoassay