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HIV Negative. Index Value Too High. Chance Of HIV?
hi doctor I have a question about my hiv test results.
I'm a female and sometime ago I had a possible exposure of giving protected oral sex and unprotected handjob and boobjob to my boyfriend of unknown status. I got semen on my hand and i had a little paper cut on my hand. I got freaked out and I tested 17 days later and it came back negative. later on I traveled to a third world country (iran) and got tested there again and this time it was 77 days after exposure. i didn't know what type of test generation they use and I wanted to get it over with so I tested for both hiv 1/2/o Abs(ELI) and p24 Ag(ECL) seperately. they both came back negative but my concern is the index value they gave me for my p24 ag which was 0.449 and in front of it it said non reactive my question is:
Is my index (0.449) too high for an uninfected person?
should i be worrying about this number and does it mean anything? I remember that on the day i got tested my blood looked really thick and dark and the test was done ECL..could that be the reason of my high index?
I'm a female and sometime ago I had a possible exposure of giving protected oral sex and unprotected handjob and boobjob to my boyfriend of unknown status. I got semen on my hand and i had a little paper cut on my hand. I got freaked out and I tested 17 days later and it came back negative. later on I traveled to a third world country (iran) and got tested there again and this time it was 77 days after exposure. i didn't know what type of test generation they use and I wanted to get it over with so I tested for both hiv 1/2/o Abs(ELI) and p24 Ag(ECL) seperately. they both came back negative but my concern is the index value they gave me for my p24 ag which was 0.449 and in front of it it said non reactive my question is:
Is my index (0.449) too high for an uninfected person?
should i be worrying about this number and does it mean anything? I remember that on the day i got tested my blood looked really thick and dark and the test was done ECL..could that be the reason of my high index?
Tue, 11 Jun 2013
Hello,
thanks for using health care magic
Getting tested and retested is the ideal plan to adopt as it might take up to 6 months before antibodies against HIV virus are detected. P24 testing is sensitive and is an early marker for detection of HIV infection but after a few weeks it becomes unreliable as it could diasppear and give a false negative results. Antibody ELISA thus becomes more useful months later after exposure. So long as your value is below the cut off value, you not have to border unless its that close or equal to cut off value which i suppose was taken at 1.
Transmission of HIV through a cut requires that the cut be a freshly sustained cut which is still bleeding or widely open. With your history, i think your chances of having the infection due to that incidence is low.
However, you will need to be retested regularly, at 90 days post exposure and at 180 days post exposure to confirm your results.
Best regards
Dr Achuo
thanks for using health care magic
Getting tested and retested is the ideal plan to adopt as it might take up to 6 months before antibodies against HIV virus are detected. P24 testing is sensitive and is an early marker for detection of HIV infection but after a few weeks it becomes unreliable as it could diasppear and give a false negative results. Antibody ELISA thus becomes more useful months later after exposure. So long as your value is below the cut off value, you not have to border unless its that close or equal to cut off value which i suppose was taken at 1.
Transmission of HIV through a cut requires that the cut be a freshly sustained cut which is still bleeding or widely open. With your history, i think your chances of having the infection due to that incidence is low.
However, you will need to be retested regularly, at 90 days post exposure and at 180 days post exposure to confirm your results.
Best regards
Dr Achuo
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Hello dear,
Samples with an index value of ≥1 are considered to be positive.
As your p24 index value is only 0.449, it is considered as negative.
So, there is no need to worry about this number.
p24 assay is a very sensitive test.
It is used to diagnose HIV infection during the "window period" i.e. even when the antibodies have not appeared in the body.
It can detect the presence of even a single virus in the blood.
So, as this test has come negative, you can be sure that you are safe.
Wishing you a good health.
Take care.
Samples with an index value of ≥1 are considered to be positive.
As your p24 index value is only 0.449, it is considered as negative.
So, there is no need to worry about this number.
p24 assay is a very sensitive test.
It is used to diagnose HIV infection during the "window period" i.e. even when the antibodies have not appeared in the body.
It can detect the presence of even a single virus in the blood.
So, as this test has come negative, you can be sure that you are safe.
Wishing you a good health.
Take care.
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