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PcR DNA question
I am not here to ask about my situation when it comes to HIV risk or anything. I just wanted some information since I had a very in-depth discussion with a friend of mine the other day regarding "new-age" HIV testing. My friend who I go to school with is a med student and thinks he knows everything. We got on the subject of HIV prevalence and risk factors and told me that the DNA PcR test these days is accurate within 72 hours of infection. I told him that it had to be 28 days at least for confirmation. He proceeded to make fun of me and said that after 10 days the results should be final if they are psoitive. What's the deal with this test because I find mixed information everywhere on the internet. Anyone know?
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iDaleo,
If you are specifically talking about a PCR DNA (Qualitative analysis), I would say you are right. A PCR DNA would be very indicative on 28th day post day exposure. However, there is another type of NAT test which is quantitative analysis in nature, PCR RNA. This test is hypersenstitive and can detect in dire conditions ike 5 copies / 100 ml of blood. This test has been lately approved by the FDA as a diognostic test. However, it is not a stand alone test., it has to be backed up by another antibody test. This test is theoritically said to be sensitive enough to detect 72 hours post exposure. However, 7-14 days post exposure is practically the right time to take this test post exposure.
The above mentioned tests don't look for the antibodies but the actual genetic material of HIV and are very expensive. They don't provide conclusive result but certainly indicative of what the result is going to be at the 12th week.
FYI - The recommended method for HIV testing is HIV antibody test, these tests are not stand alone tests..
If you are specifically talking about a PCR DNA (Qualitative analysis), I would say you are right. A PCR DNA would be very indicative on 28th day post day exposure. However, there is another type of NAT test which is quantitative analysis in nature, PCR RNA. This test is hypersenstitive and can detect in dire conditions ike 5 copies / 100 ml of blood. This test has been lately approved by the FDA as a diognostic test. However, it is not a stand alone test., it has to be backed up by another antibody test. This test is theoritically said to be sensitive enough to detect 72 hours post exposure. However, 7-14 days post exposure is practically the right time to take this test post exposure.
The above mentioned tests don't look for the antibodies but the actual genetic material of HIV and are very expensive. They don't provide conclusive result but certainly indicative of what the result is going to be at the 12th week.
FYI - The recommended method for HIV testing is HIV antibody test, these tests are not stand alone tests..
The PCR test is not approved for diagnositic means because it does carry a high false postitive rate. So when ever someone comes on here talking about a negative PCR test while it is good news of a negative we always recommend the antibody test at 3 months because the antibody test is the only test approved for diagnostic purposes.
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