Hiv test

[Stanford650]

Hello Doctor,
I live in san francisco. From your opinions i have received, you have classified it as no risk. My primary care doctor said low risk. So my brain needed to test for peace of mind. This happened on mar 12. I went into ucsf's ahp on mar.26. They did antibody and an rna exam which apparently looks for virus. I just called and the rna came back negative. The rapid was negative on the 26th. Can i believe these results? They heavily promote rna here in SF, including the city clinic which is in charge of pep.

I am having a sore throat for about 4 days now.

Thank you.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Tests for antibodies alone are completely reliable 8 weeks after an exposure.

It is now time for this thread to end.  EWH

[Stanford650]

Thanks doctor. When would be the earliest to test with an antibody rapid test and receive accurate results?

Again, thank you for your help. Your advice is greatly appreciated during this stressful/confusing time.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Please re-read my comment.   The RNA test is used to detect the virus.  There are not good scientific studies to be completely sure before 28 days however, given your "low"/"virtually zero" chance of having HIV you should not be worried although, as we have discussed before, you should have not been worried to start with.  EWH

[Stanford650]

Understood doctor, thank you.
The cdc states


Another type of test is an RNA test, which detects the HIV virus directly. The time between HIV infection and RNA detection is 9–11 days. These tests, which are more costly and used less often than antibody tests, are used in some parts of the United States.


Should i be comfortable stating im hiv negative? The sore throat is bugging me and shockingly its starting to improve. Thanks for not judging.

[Edward W Hook, MD]

You are asking the wrong question.  Doctors use the terms, "low risk" and "no risk” interchangably.  There is no such thing as zero risk- just as you could be struck by a tidal wave while reading this reply, incredibly rare things might happen with HIV transmission as well but not with any meaningful frequency.  I have pasted in a prior reply to a similar past question below-

"As a generalization for both you and other readers, you must realize that we VERY frequently get questions asking if different types of exposures or prevention measures are 100% effective.  The answer to that is that this is scientifically impossible.  For a variety of mathematical reasons far too complex to go into here, all one can do with well conducted scientific studies is estimate probabilities.  By definition, any estimate, cannot ever be 100% certain because of the incredibly low possibility that someone will get HIV through a previously undescribed mechanism tomorrow.  On the other hand, when Dr. Handsfield or I say that something is very low risk, virtually zero, very close to no risk, or of minimal risk, or use any other term to indicate a very small risk, that means "close to zero" in a world where zero cannot be attained."

In answer to your question there are no specific stdies to determine exactly when RNA tests, when combined with an antibody test are 100% sensitive for detection of recently acquired HIV at 4 weeks after exposure.  In many or even most cases, tests would probably be positve earlier however there are no sceintific studies which define the earliest possible time that 100% of tests will be positve earlier than 4 weeks.  EWH

[Stanford650]

I am seeking professional mental help moving forward

[Stanford650]

I cant accept the no risk answer. Especially after my doctor said low risk instead of no risk......so i did what i felt was correct by testing....now i need tp know if the rna is reliable

[Edward W Hook, MD]

Are you using different names?  If so, why?  EWH

[Stanford650]

It was on a different thread.....my primary care doctor considered fingering with blood and genital secretions coming into contact as low risk......i just want to know if i can rely on the rna exam?

[Edward W Hook, MD]

I'm confused.  Five hours ago you said on out HIV Community site that you did not have an exposure and wanted to know if an isolated sore throat might be ARS (No), now you state the I classified something as no risk.  I do not see anywhere that you asked a question about risk.  Please clarify both your situation and your question.  EWH