Wife Tested Positive - Question

[HoldingOntoFaith]

I'm going to post a question on the doctors forum but they're already at their limit today. My wife and I had our first child yesterday. She tested 3 weeks ago for the required HIV yet and was negative.  When they tested before delivery, it was a positive result. You can imagine what we're going through. She says she hasn't had any other sexual partners and I believe her. Naturally, I then thought about myself and an experience I had in a Mexican strip club 3 months ago. It was low risk, (head of penis might have rubbed against her underwear) but the thought is still there.

So I immediately went out yesterday and took a Home Access test which came back today as negative. They sent my wifes off to get a Western Blot test but it won't be back for a week. The doctor thinks it's a false positive.

My question is this, what are the odds that I am a carrier, infected my wife 2 months ago (the last time we had sex) but still don't show antibodies today? It just doesn't make sense.

As you can imagine we're concerned about our daughter who has to stay on treatment until my wife and her blood tests come back.

Would you assume my Home Access at 12 weeks is definite or is there a chance that I could have given it to her a couple months ago but still test negative?

[Teak]

False positive which is known in pregnancies.

[joggen]

Your wife's positive result has absolutely nothing to do with your Mexican strip club adventure 3 months ago. Since you didn't have unprotected sex at the strip club and didn't share needles with any of the staff or customers, you couldn't have caught HIV there. Everything that you have posted is consistent with a false positive.

[HoldingOntoFaith]

Teak - I respect your input based on all the reading we've done since yesterday. Any chance you could expand on "known in pregnancies"?

Thanks for the quick input by the way. I'm assuming you're in agreement that the Home Access negative result at 12 weeks would disqualify me as a potential carrier?

[HoldingOntoFaith]

Thanks Joggen. We'll keep praying but those are reassuring comments. You can imagine what the last 24 hours have been like for us.

[bigboss123]

Keep your head up. There is a very very good chance it is a false positive. And no from what you say you had no risk on what happend at the strip club. Tell your wife not to stress. This can very likely be a false positive.

[HoldingOntoFaith]

We just got my wife's WB results back. It said that it was "indeterminant" because her p24 strand was reactive but all the other strands were negative. Someone help??

[HoldingOntoFaith]

Teak, please see my last post.

[Teak]

My answer doesn't change from my previous reply to you.

[joggen]

This is still consistent with a false positive. Most indeterminate WBs resolve negative.

[HoldingOntoFaith]

Any insight as to why a p24 would react if the person was HIV negative? I just don't understand. Is there a chance that the p24 strand is just the beginning and it evolves into other strands?

[Teak]

Has she ever had an exposure?

[joggen]

Sorry, I really don't know what causes indeterminate results on WBs. However, Dr. HHH's reply to you sounded reassuring (the fact that p24 is the most common cause).

Rapid tests are more prone to false positives than traditional ELISAs, so that's another factor in your favor. I hope you can resolve this soon with follow-up testing- not sure why they'd make you wait another 3 months.

[bigboss123]

Well what risk have you and your wife had over the years?

[HoldingOntoFaith]

Teak, I don't think so. The last sexual intercourse she had was with me 8 weeks ago. She does not use drugs. As I mentioned, I tested negative for antibodies through Home Access yesterday. It was 12 weeks after any type of potential exposure I might have had. I'm still paranoid that I actually have HIV, passed it to her 8 weeks ago, but my body is still not producing antibodies but hers is just starting to which is why it showed up 8 weeks later. Is that possible?

I've read here that 12 weeks with no antibodies is conclusive. I'm assuming the Home Access would pick up any of the strands if they were positive in me?

With just doing some brief research, it also looks like the p24 antigens show up only between 1-3 weeks post exposure. Is that right?

Joggen - thanks for the heads up. I just looked at Dr. H's reply and will respond.

[joggen]

"I've read here that 12 weeks with no antibodies is conclusive. I'm assuming the Home Access would pick up any of the strands if they were positive in me?"

The HA would pick up all strands. You don't have HIV.

[bigboss123]

You had no risk from what happened at the strip club. So let that go. Now that being said. What risks has your wife ever had? In a case like this you have to start thinking of was there a chance in the past you or your wife ever had risky incodents. If not than there is no way she could have HIV. More than likely her test are fales possitive.

[LIZZIE LOU]

bottom line is YOU didnt give your wife hiv.  if your wife has had no "exposures"...then she doesnt have hiv either.

[bigboss123]

Thanks LIZZIE LOU you said it better than I could of.

[HoldingOntoFaith]

Just those that responded an update. My wife and I both took an oraquick test today. Both results were negative. I'm really hoping that there is no chance that it's not picking up something the Elisa test did at the hospital. Oraquick is 3rd generation so I'm assuming that if the hospital test picked it up, then this one would as well.

[Vance2335]

If she was really positive then the recent test would have picked it up. And like what everyone has said this leads up to a false positive.

[HoldingOntoFaith]

Thanks Vance. I hope you're right. If there were antibodies present on Monday then I'm assuming the Oraquick would have picked them up today. At least, that's what we're praying for. As you can imagine, this has turned our world upside down and we still have our baby on HIV meds per the doctors orders. It's unbearable to wait.

We went and both took blood for viral loads today which should be back in two days. I'm assuming that would be conclusive.

[HoldingOntoFaith]

Just wanted to give a quick update. My wife took her RNA PCR last week and the result came back as <20ml which is essentially negative. To say the least, this was extremely relieving.

The last question I have (cut me a break, my wife tested positive and it's been an emotional week to say the least) is whether or not she could have HIV2, which wouldn't come up in the PCR tests from what I understand. I know its extremely rare, but so are false positives so I'm thinking of all options here because at this point, odds don't really mean much.

Would the doctors at the hospital been able to see if she reacted to HIV2 vs HIV1? Surely they would have thought of this option with a child involved.

[joggen]

If she was positive for HIV-2 then the most recent oraquick would have picked it up. False positives on rapid tests actually are fairly common, and I'm somewhat perplexed as to why your wife was administered one when she already had a negative blood test 3 weeks prior.

What are your doctors saying at this point? Are they requiring a repeat Western Blot as well?

[HoldingOntoFaith]

It's a little nerve racking. Her OBGYN says that we should just let it go because no one is going to be able to give us a CONCLUSIVE answer for a while but the recent antibody test and PCR test should be enough. That said, he's not a specialist of course and can't give us formal advice.

We had our first pediatrician appointment this week after our PCR test and he upset my wife all over again because he kept saying that "False Positives are VERY, VERY rare". I wasn't happy the way he delivered that to say the least. It's not like he was telling us something we didn't know.

The HIV specialist that gave us the PCR said that there is a 99.99% chance that everything was fine (due to the viral load being negative) but to come back in for more testing IF we wanted to. (consistent to what you guys have been saying)

Lastly, we have an appointment with an infectious disease pediatrician tomorrow. Hopefully, he will help us get some closure on it. I just assumed that the PCR would be the conclusive test and unfortunately, it seems like know one can give us a definitive answer.

In the meantime, I think I'm starting to suffer a case of Cyberchondria as things like HIV2 possibilities start popping up in my mind.