HIV antibody tests looks for body's immune response to the viral infection, this response is called antibodies. Any amount of biotin when consumed can't suppress the body's capability to produce antibodies. III generation and above tests are so sensitive that even slight amount of antibodies present in the body can be easily detected. Most of the time, antibodies are detected even much before the window period, when tested for diagnosis. Therefore, the assumption that presence biotin in human body can avoid detection of HIV is void. Food for thought, the only way antibody production can be suppressed is by obstructing the replication process of the virus, which can be only caused by ARV drugs and not biotin.
This forum serves to address concerns related to HIV prevention. The idea of discussing what-if's and might be's are strongly not encouraged here since this is an high anxiety forum, any wrong information can spark a lot of stress amongst worried wells.
There are a couple of concerns here, first, you have hijacked someone's thread. Second, you never stated what was your risk for assessment. If you have a legitimate risk, please start your own thread, we will be happy to support you with an evaluation.
At this point, nor there is concrete data available to decisively make a statement that biotin can cause false positive neither it is logical to make that assumption by any means as explained above. Thus, this concludes the thread right here.
Chima, I have seen some of the nonsense you are talking about, (ie. I looked at a tooth brush infected with hiv , will i get it? ). I AM NOT ONE OF THOSE GUYS. I AM A MARINE, VIETNAM VETERAN, WHO WANTS AN ANSWER - PERIOD-THE -END. Where did Hook & Dr. HHH state that. If you could Cut & Paste or something like that, and send that stuff here, I would definitely appreciate it and probably a lot of other people will also, if not please tell me where it is listed so i can see it myself-thanks -excuse the typing & spelling this took me 20 min. to type. Oh, just so you know-my risks are extensive and real.
So, in other words, there is nothing that we can do about it. I guess "Fasting" etc. won't help until they fix their problems - right ?? Are there any tests that we can use to find out for sure that either we are + or - Thanks again.
People have asked both Dr. Hook and Dr. HHH whether biotin interferes with HIV tests, and both have said no. And in fact they expressed annoyance with the people who have asked because those people had no risk for HIV exposure in the first place and they, like you, kept frantically searching for all kinds of nonsense online to argue with them about their experience and knowledge. So, you can either take the word of world renowned HIV experts or you can continue spinning in circles of your own making which will create nothing but more unnecessary anxiety for you. It's your choice.
The best that i can do for you, or at least what i got out of all the investigating is: the FDA and some other agencies say, large amounts of Biotin may affect the tests, but they never give you a number and they always say "additives" they never mention foods that also have Biotin , do you figure in the food or not? Any way I also hope there is someone out there that has an answer...thanks
Yes, you can trust your results, as long as you took the right test at the right time. The only potential interference would happen if you were on powerful drugs that suppress the immune system, such as chemotherapy. Nothing you can buy over the counter would interfere with your HIV test results.