Member Comments are provided by individuals and reflect their personal opinions only. Under NO circumstances should you act on any advice or opinion posted in this forum. ALWAYS check with your personal physician before taking any action regarding your health! MedHelp International and our partners, sponsors and affiliates have no obligation to monitor any comments posted on this site, or the content and/or accuracy of such exchanges. MedHelp International does not endorse the views of any user.
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.
False negative and psychology of risk.
by Hao, Mar 20, 2008 09:19PM
SHould I worry about the possible false negative beyond six month?
It would seems so at least psychologically.
My reason is as follows
The sensitivity of the test if 99.6%
That means, chance false negative is about 4/1000
Risk for per unprotected anal sex is about 5/1000
(Assuming the true hiv status in each case is undertermined, meaning its probability is approximately as the prevalence rate in general population)
These two seems comparable
However, the later is deemed to be risky, the former isn't seen as an issue
It would seems so at least psychologically.
My reason is as follows
The sensitivity of the test if 99.6%
That means, chance false negative is about 4/1000
Risk for per unprotected anal sex is about 5/1000
(Assuming the true hiv status in each case is undertermined, meaning its probability is approximately as the prevalence rate in general population)
These two seems comparable
However, the later is deemed to be risky, the former isn't seen as an issue
Post Comment
thanks for the reply
sorry about the lousy English in my post, i am losing my English recently
when i am in a very bad mood, my brain tends to regress into a low-functioning level, in which i am less able to process the foreign language...english for me, which is radically different from my mother tongue, which is Chinese