Test result queries

[bob2010]

Hi drs had exposure in mid august, carried out oral m2m. Precum involved. Had test on 15/09/09 and another test 6/10/09. At private clinic in uk, also had test at gum clinic ag/ab on 5/10/09 negative, not sure what generation though. I was informed that tests at private clinic had some issues, zoned out a bit at that time , presume they were false negatives.

Did ask for more detail about test results and they sent me the following results:

15/09/09 negative
6/10/09 negative

immunology records:

visas duo hiv1&2 negative
bispot immunoassay hiv1&2 negative
determine hiv1&2 negative

no hiv1 or hiv2 antibodies detected

I am confused about the test carried out, what is the confirmation test and if I fail on both dates the implications and why have I got three results after two tests.

I am getting very concerned and worried about the false positives and what theymean!

As these tests were carried out at a London lab, I thought you might have a better understading. No wb carried out this the case in some labs?

Thank you for your time

[Dr. Jose Gonzalez-Garcia, MD, MRCGP, PhD]

They would have done it automatically with any initial positive result, in order to confirm or exclude the result.  You are certainly negative; there is no doubt about that.
And it is of course true that if you had been positive, the antibodies would have certainly been detected in the test performed a couple of days earlier and this was not the case.
Best wishes,
Dr Jose

[bob2010]

Thank you for your response, I am still a bit concerned, hard not to get out of my mind. One thing that does play on it, is that though they seem to have carried out confirmation tests. They don't seem to have done/mentioned a western blot test. Would that be your interpretation?

Sorry if I seem to be dwell on this point, but the reactive test have thrown me quite a bit.

Also could you tell, if possible if the blood sample taken from me two days earlier by the gum clinic, would have picked up the antibodies, if there were any. As the private clinic took my blood two after the gum clinic.

Thank you

I will try and move on, if you are able to address these points.

Regards

bob2010  

[Dr. Jose Gonzalez-Garcia, MD, MRCGP, PhD]

Hello,
Thank you for your post regarding your HIV tests.  First of all I would like to reassure you about the fact that oral sex does not involve any real risk of HIV infection.  Therefore we can say that your encounter was very, very low risk, which under most circumstances would not even require testing.  All the tests that you had are totally relaible and fully conclusive at those specific times.  In every initial positive reaction to the test, a cascade of additional confirmatory tests is performed, including a Western Blot, which is the gold standard.  These were all negative.  This situation of an initial false positive occassionally happens if the patient has another concomitant infection or has had a recent immunisation, etc.  This seems to have been your case, and you can rest assured that you are definitley negative as all the confirmatory tests were negative.
Best wishes,
Dr Jose

[bob2010]

Sorry  spelling errors:

Vidas hiv1/hiv2 duo

and

BISPOT Immunocomb HIV1/HIV2

and WB was supposed to be western blot test.

Thank you