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81 day test
Dear Dr,
I am female and had an unprotected sexual encounter with a man I did not know the status of. It left me feeling horrified. I had a standard HIV blood test at planned parenthood 81 days after the high risk situation. It came back negative and I felt at ease. I was told it was long enough after the high risk sexual exposure and I could get on with my life. I let it go until I recently became involved in a new relationship. Now I have began to question if it was indeed long enough?
What are your thoughts? I had the test in February of 2011 and it was my only exposure. I did contract a STD for the first time in my life in which I was prescribed medicine and was retested for that at the time I took the HIV test and it was cleared up. Should I feel confident that that was long enough to know my test was conclusively negative?
I am female and had an unprotected sexual encounter with a man I did not know the status of. It left me feeling horrified. I had a standard HIV blood test at planned parenthood 81 days after the high risk situation. It came back negative and I felt at ease. I was told it was long enough after the high risk sexual exposure and I could get on with my life. I let it go until I recently became involved in a new relationship. Now I have began to question if it was indeed long enough?
What are your thoughts? I had the test in February of 2011 and it was my only exposure. I did contract a STD for the first time in my life in which I was prescribed medicine and was retested for that at the time I took the HIV test and it was cleared up. Should I feel confident that that was long enough to know my test was conclusively negative?
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
You've got it. Thanks for the thanks!
Dear Dr.HHH,
Thank you for your quick response. So no matter what extreme level the risk or std exposure ,any standard blood test is 100% accurate is what I'm understanding. I can let go of the worries and start living without fear of harming my boyfriend.
Thank you so much Sir!
Thank you for your quick response. So no matter what extreme level the risk or std exposure ,any standard blood test is 100% accurate is what I'm understanding. I can let go of the worries and start living without fear of harming my boyfriend.
Thank you so much Sir!
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Welcome to the forum. Thanks for your question.
Some forum questions contain sufficient information in the title to provide an accurate reply. Yours seems to do that, or at least to come close. The modern HIV tests are completely reliable at 81 days. Even though official advice is for definitive testing at 3 months, in fact with the standard antibody tests, 6-8 weeks almost always is sufficient. If a combined antibody-antigen test is done, then a test at 4 weeks is definitive. Test results always overrule exposure history and symptoms: even in a maximal risk exposure, and even if the symptoms are highly suggestive of a new HIV infection, a negative result at 81 days take precedence.
Now I have read the question itself. I nailed it; the PP clinic is exactly right. You don't say enough about your exposure for me to judge its risk, or which STD you contracted --- but for the reasons noted above, these details won't make any difference. I'll just point out that heterosexually transmitted HIV after only a single exposure is very, very rare in the United States and most industrialized countries -- making the test result even more reassuring.
For more information about time to reliable HIV test results, including the reasons that official advice remains for testing at 3 months, see the thread linked below:
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/1704700
So no worries! Until and unless you have other high risk exposures, you needn't worry about HIV. I hope this has been helpful.
HHH, MD
Some forum questions contain sufficient information in the title to provide an accurate reply. Yours seems to do that, or at least to come close. The modern HIV tests are completely reliable at 81 days. Even though official advice is for definitive testing at 3 months, in fact with the standard antibody tests, 6-8 weeks almost always is sufficient. If a combined antibody-antigen test is done, then a test at 4 weeks is definitive. Test results always overrule exposure history and symptoms: even in a maximal risk exposure, and even if the symptoms are highly suggestive of a new HIV infection, a negative result at 81 days take precedence.
Now I have read the question itself. I nailed it; the PP clinic is exactly right. You don't say enough about your exposure for me to judge its risk, or which STD you contracted --- but for the reasons noted above, these details won't make any difference. I'll just point out that heterosexually transmitted HIV after only a single exposure is very, very rare in the United States and most industrialized countries -- making the test result even more reassuring.
For more information about time to reliable HIV test results, including the reasons that official advice remains for testing at 3 months, see the thread linked below:
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/1704700
So no worries! Until and unless you have other high risk exposures, you needn't worry about HIV. I hope this has been helpful.
HHH, MD
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