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Can I Get HIV Inspite Of Having Unprotected Intercourse?
Question: Hi. I had a sexual exposure around 29/30 Oct 2013 without condom with lady of unknown HIV status.
I did not go for any tests. I did not ejaculate inside, nor felt her doing so.
Around 2nd week of Nov'13, my wife got pregnant (we got to know in Dec'13) and then I thought of checking my HIV status.
Around 11 XXXXXXX 2014, i got Rapid ELISA test done and report came NEGATIVE.
Then around 12 Feb 2014 ( after 90 days of pregnancy), my wife was tested for various pregnancy related blood tests.
The HIV test done by a reputed center came INCONCLUSIVE twice, so they took our permission and sent fresh samples for PCR testing at METROPOLIS lab.
The result of PCR testing was "NOT DETECTABLE" ( with a disclaimer that it means either HIV negative or virus size less than 20 micro something).
Doctor & technicians told us that this means HIV negative since PCR is a very reliable confirmatory test.
The earlier tests done which were giving INCONCLUSIVE readings ( cutoff borderline was the word used by technician) may be on account of False positive in case of pregnant woman.
Now my queries are :
1) Does this mean that my wife and baby in womb are not in any danger of HIV due to my escapade.
2) Does this mean that I too don't have HIV positive (since my ELISA test was negative and if i was infected, the my wife too would have been infected....since her PCR is Negative and hopefully she and baby are not HIV positive...so does this rule out the possibility of mine being HIV positive.
Kindly advise.
regards,
********
Brief Answer:
Repeat testing is recommended for both
Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome to healthcaremagic.
I am Dr. Kakkar. I have gone through your concern and I have understood it.
HIV does'nt show up immediately in blood tests. It has a window period of about 90 days for antibody based tests (The window period is the time from infection until a test can detect any change). You got your RAPID ELISA test done about 75 days after a risky sexual contact, however since antibody based tests have a window period of 90 days, therefore ideally you should have got yourself repeat tested at 90 days(12 weeks) to cover the window period of infection. Therefore, your HIV status is inconclusive,as of now.
Your wife status was inconclusive with antibody testing and RT PCR test result came as UNDETECTABLE(either negative or <20copies/cu.mm). The PCR (viral load) is generally not recommended as a diagnostic test; it's used in people who are already known to have HIV to monitor therapy. It shortens the window period to about 2-3 weeks as compared to 90 days (12 weeks) in antibody based tests, thus helping in early diagnosis of possible infection. However the guideline still suggest testing at (90 days) 12 weeks with a regular antibody for conclusive results.
Therefore, I would advice a repeat testing for both of you with ELISA.
regards
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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