Aa
HIV Testing
Hello, I am a 19 year old healthy male. On July 26th I had protected sex with a random women. I was so worried about testing that I put it off until November. When I did it came out negative. I was so relieved when I got the negative ELISA. I didn't worry after that until I heard that sometimes it can take up to six months to have a positive test. However you guys and the Dr. Bob state three months is conclusive. Here are my questions,
1) Have you ever seen someone with a negative four month test come out positive later
2) What would cause a delayed seroconversion
3) Do I need another test
4) Should I be this anxious
Thanks for the help
1) Have you ever seen someone with a negative four month test come out positive later
2) What would cause a delayed seroconversion
3) Do I need another test
4) Should I be this anxious
Thanks for the help
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
You're missing one of the main points. There are no precise data and it is impossible to answer your question. In order to know exactly what proportion of people seroconvert by various intervals, it would be necessary to study thousands of people, known to have been exposed at a precise point in time, then do at least weekly tests on every person for at least 6 months. Such a study would be extremely expensive and it will never be done. Absent such data, all estimates are rough at best, based on very limited data plus experts' professional judgment. That's true for all intervals, whether it's 4 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, or whatever. As you can imagine, this leaves a lot of room for disagreement between experts and health agencies. Given the uncertainty, some agencies choose more conservative time frames than others.
Fifty years from now, it will be equally uncertain exactly what proportions of infected people are positive at various intervals, and anxious people will still be nervous about it. That's just the way it is.
That's all for this thread.
Fifty years from now, it will be equally uncertain exactly what proportions of infected people are positive at various intervals, and anxious people will still be nervous about it. That's just the way it is.
That's all for this thread.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Directly to your questions:
1) I have never even heard of such a case and certainly it has never happened among my patients.
2) There is no such thing as serconversion delay beyond 6 months and it rarely takes as long as 3 months. In the rare cases it occurs, there is no known cause.
3, 4) No.
I'll bet in the past 10 years, not one person in your situation in the US turned out to have caught HIV. Sheesh-- the chance your partner had HIV is almost zero anyway.
Please worry about things that have a realistic risk of harming you, like being hit by lightning. I'm serious: the risk of that is hundreds of times higher than the chance you caught HIV. Time to move on.
HHH, MD
1) I have never even heard of such a case and certainly it has never happened among my patients.
2) There is no such thing as serconversion delay beyond 6 months and it rarely takes as long as 3 months. In the rare cases it occurs, there is no known cause.
3, 4) No.
I'll bet in the past 10 years, not one person in your situation in the US turned out to have caught HIV. Sheesh-- the chance your partner had HIV is almost zero anyway.
Please worry about things that have a realistic risk of harming you, like being hit by lightning. I'm serious: the risk of that is hundreds of times higher than the chance you caught HIV. Time to move on.
HHH, MD
so if its 99% by 8 weeks how do they get 6 months? Is this a matter of a few cases ever taking longer than 3 months (like 0.000001% chance) or is it actually worth a 6 month test?
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
The time to a positive HIV test (the seroconversion window) has been discussed many times on this forum. But since we don't yet have an FAQ section, the information can be a little hard to find, so it bears repeating from time to time. Here it is again.
The tests are the same everywhere. There is no rigid window period. As time goes on, more and more infected people have positive tests. The available data are not preciese, but according to most experts around 50% are positive by 2 weeks, 90% by 4 weeks, 95+% by 6 weeks, 99% by 8 weeks, and three months is the longest it ever takes. Doctors and health departments that advises testing at 6 months are being overly and unnecessarily conservative.
On this forum, our replies about when to test do not depend only on the test reliaibility, but on the overall context. If someone has only 1 chance in 100,000 of having caught HIV, a negative test at 4 weeks (90% reliability) drops those odds to 1 in a million. That's close enough to zero that such a person doesn't really need additional testing, except for psychological reassurance. On the other hand, if the exposure was high risk and the odds s/he caught HIV are, say, 1% (1 in 100) a 4 week test drops that chance to 1 in 1,000. That's helpful, but not good enough. That person needs testing at 6-8 weeks and perhaps 3 months. Same test but different situations, therefore different testing advice.
All this is for the standard HIV antibody tests. The certainty of a negative result often can be increased by adding a test for the virus itself, like p41 antigen (included in the Duo test) or PCR to detect viral RNA. If one of these plus an antibody test is negative at 4 weeks, that's essentially 100% proof the person didn't catch HIV. However, PCR testing can give false positive results, which of course can be very frightening -- so it usually isn't recommended expcept in especially high risk situations.
The tests are the same everywhere. There is no rigid window period. As time goes on, more and more infected people have positive tests. The available data are not preciese, but according to most experts around 50% are positive by 2 weeks, 90% by 4 weeks, 95+% by 6 weeks, 99% by 8 weeks, and three months is the longest it ever takes. Doctors and health departments that advises testing at 6 months are being overly and unnecessarily conservative.
On this forum, our replies about when to test do not depend only on the test reliaibility, but on the overall context. If someone has only 1 chance in 100,000 of having caught HIV, a negative test at 4 weeks (90% reliability) drops those odds to 1 in a million. That's close enough to zero that such a person doesn't really need additional testing, except for psychological reassurance. On the other hand, if the exposure was high risk and the odds s/he caught HIV are, say, 1% (1 in 100) a 4 week test drops that chance to 1 in 1,000. That's helpful, but not good enough. That person needs testing at 6-8 weeks and perhaps 3 months. Same test but different situations, therefore different testing advice.
All this is for the standard HIV antibody tests. The certainty of a negative result often can be increased by adding a test for the virus itself, like p41 antigen (included in the Duo test) or PCR to detect viral RNA. If one of these plus an antibody test is negative at 4 weeks, that's essentially 100% proof the person didn't catch HIV. However, PCR testing can give false positive results, which of course can be very frightening -- so it usually isn't recommended expcept in especially high risk situations.
Here in the Philippines, they say that it's six months? Are the HIV tests different in different countries?
hi again, i went to the doctor today and he said that there is a six month window period. Is that true? How many people actually need a 6 month test?
so you feel safe in saying that my forth month test is accurate and i should be considered hiv neg
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
For HIV, chlamydia, and gonorrhea, 100%. Probably 80-90% protected against herpes and HPV.
Thank you very much doctor just one last question for the future how well protected am i with condoms
You are reading content posted in the HIV - Prevention Forum
Condoms are the most effective way to prevent HIV and STDs.
PrEP is used by people with high risk to prevent HIV infection.
Can I get HIV from surfaces, like toilet seats?
Can you get HIV from casual contact, like hugging?
Frequency of HIV testing depends on your risk.
Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) may help prevent HIV infection.
