Normal or not?

[Scaredtohavehiv]

First off, thank you all for what you do. I have been reading some of the trends and it's amazing to see that people spend their free time to help other

I'm going to keep this short.

I had an exposure jan 2010 and tested at the following times
Aug 2010, sept 2010, dec 2010, feb 2011, mar 2011, June 2011, feb 2012, march 2012 and may 2012.

All were negative except for the may one. It was reactive( don't know the index value) but it was followed by a negative western blot. The dr wants to see me again. I told her when my exposure was and I couldn't tell her reaction over the phone when she called today. I told her I had previously tested as well. Should I at all my concerned? I have no idea what she is going to tell me at the appointment?

My jaw dropped when she told me and then she told me not to worry, she's seen it happen once before and she said its in my favor that I'm not in "a high risk group"...whatever that means.
Once?! So reassuring, I told her

Thanks again

[Teak]

For a positive WB you have to have 3 bands not 1.

[Scaredtohavehiv]

Teak, what do you mean by " you didn't come close to a positive test"? The Elisa came back positive. They value must have been higher than the cut off line, correct?

[Teak]

You need to move along you don't have HIV. You have a negative WB test while there was no reason to give you a WB. The cut off on the index value is 1.0, You didn't come close to a positive test result.

[Scaredtohavehiv]

Thanks Lizzie. That makes me a little bit more anxious. I'm scared that I may have a high index value, like 2+. Do you think it would be wise to call and see what it was?

[LIZZIE LOU]

regarding the index value:

"Since this confusion surrounding signal-to-cut off ratios comes up fairly frequently let me take a moment to try and explain it once again. The signal-to-cut off ratio varies from laboratory instrument to laboratory instrument and it also varies with each run of the test assay. A cut off value is analogous to a noise signal from the instrument when a blank sample is run. The "signal" is a real signal coming from the anti-bodies that are being tested in the plasma. If the ratio greater than or equal to 1, it means that the anti-body signal is equal to or higher than the threshold value, which also means that there are significant amount of anti-bodies in the sample being tested.

On the other and, a signal-to-cut off ratio is less than 1 (any value less than 1) means that the signal from the anti-bodies is much less than the baseline value (value from a blank run). The test is designed such that when it detects the anti-bodies, the minimum value it records is 1. A true positive test is usually higher than 1. Values close to 1 can indicate infection or more likely a false positive. The bottom line take home message is that if you have HIV anti-bodies in your blood, you will see signal-to-cut off ratio values greater than 1. Values less than 1 indicate HIV antibodies are not present. (It doesn't matter how much less than one 1. A ratio of .22 is not "more negative" than a ratio of .45."

[Scaredtohavehiv]

One last question.
I was reading through someone else's trend and got a bit concerned.
They were talking about the index number. My question is, when they test with the Elisa, is it the index value that determines a positive or negative test? Or is it a control and test line like the rapids? Would my value make a difference, if it is really high or not?