I dated a girl for 6 months and never wore
protection with her. We broke up on
september 1, and the last time we had sex
was on August 25. I got tested for HIV on
November 3. The test result came back
negative. How accurate is this test?
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andrewcorbin20
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 02 Dec 2007 Posts: 24 Location: Charlottesville, VA USA
Test Posted: 12-28-07 18:25pm
The HIV test is extremely accurate. The
only time the test is ran twice, is when a
result is positive, to rule out false
positives. The only way you could've
contracted HIV is if she was positive, not
if you were wearing protection or not.
Also, HIV shows up within the first 72
hours.
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mrsJ
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 14 Mar 2007 Posts: 81 Location: ,
Posted: 12-28-07 18:38pm
Actually the standard way to test for HIV
is to test for antibodies that develop in
your blood as a response to the HIV virus.
It can take several months for these
antibodies to reach levels that are
detectable. You should at least wait 3
months after a potential exposure before
testing and then test again in 6 months to
a year. It is very rare that it would take
more than 6 months for the antibodies to
show up in your blood. I wouldn't worry
too much because in the heterosexual, non
IV drug using population in the US HIV
prevalence is low. Non the less test again
after about a year from the last time you
had sex with her.
Here is a website that seems pretty
accurate. I didn't read much but what I
did read seems to correlate with what I
know about laboratory testing.
