HIV and HTLV antibodies - really worried

[joeyk11]

Morning Doctors

I posted a few months ago regarding rare strains of HIV and testing for HTLV....

Just wanted to check a few things which are really worrying me...  I did get tested for HTLV 1&2 antibodies a few months ago - which came back negative.  However looking through the net recently, I've found some people on the forums claiming that someone called Mr. Sadowsky from The Body website saying that some people will NEVER develop HTLV antibodies, even though they have HTLV...

So I trawled through The Body website and forum, which looks like a good HIV resource, and I came across this link here 'http://www.thebody.com/Forums/AIDS/SafeSex/Q9224.html' where this Mr. Sadowsky says some people can take up to 6 months to develop antibodies, and he mentions a study where in some people it can take years for detectable antibodies to develop.

I looked at the date of the above post and is says Dec 16, 1998.  Could it be this information is out of date?  When I looked on the forum there are still a couple of people recently quoting this person but claiming that some people will NEVER develop HTLV antibodies.  Is it possible to have HTLV but not have antibodies, or is this just false information?  Would you always develop antibodies to HTLV, and how long does it take for the antibodies to be detectable on a standard blood test?

This also now leads me to now worrying about HIV.  Is it possible to have HIV but not develop detectable antibodies, or would you always develop antibodies, which would be detected by the HIV DUO test - which is what I had....

Also found this link on Medhelp by Edward M Hook re. rare strains 'http://www.medhelp.org/posts/HIV---Prevention/Scared-to-the-bone/show/1588651';

Would you agree with this?

Thanks in advance.

[jack1260]

Trinity, Did u test for HTLV. HTLV test are not included in normal STD screening but it is very much spread out there. Please test HTLV if you still having weak legs, constipation, back pain, neurological problems.

[Trinity1111]

Good afternoon Dr. Jose! I have test exactly after 45 days the exposure, ELISA CMIA, 4th generation, negative. They said to me here in Czech Republic, that is is a good sign, but they said to me to go to retest, and they also said to me that before 12 weeks nobody and none test can give me conclusice result. I was surfing the net and have found this page, and also webpages in Canada and Germany, in those countries they also said that test in conclusive after 6 weeks. So my question is, why here in my country the doctors says 12 weeks? And my second question is, I am after 11 weeks from my exposure, and have loosing my hair s much ( for two weeks) , and have itchy skin, dry skin, sweat of palms and feet, rash problems from the 3rd week till these days....  So almost all possible symptomes of HIV. I am hypochonder and also excessive fear.... Fro three month I can´t think about anything else just whether my test was right.... Do you thing, these symptomes can mean that my test was false negative after 6 weeks?   Thank you very much for your answer in advance and wish you all the best!  Your sincere, Trinity

[Dr. Jose Gonzalez-Garcia, MD, MRCGP, PhD]

Hello,
Thank you for your post.
I am afraid that the articles that you are citing are old and out of date.  Current serology tests for HTLV-1 and HTVL-2 are highly sensitive and would detect the presence of antibodies in most individuals after 12 weeks of the infection.
Regarding the HIV Duo test that you had can be considered fully conclusive after 4 weeks of a possible infection.  If you had not sero-converted, the p24 would still be detectable as it is independent of your immune response.
Finally I totally agree with Dr Hook's statemetn regarding HIV rare strain and subtypes.
Best wishes,
Dr José