Sign-in to Ask A Doctor - 24x7
OR
Sign in with Google
Had Oral Sex. Tested Negative For HIV. Should I Go For Second Test?
Hello,
You should get retested at 6 months after exposure to be safe.
Oral sex transmission can occur, but chances are much lower compared to sexual intercourse. Also with penis-vaginal contact (without penetration), there is a very small chance of transmission, particularly if there were small sores (from whatever reason: either trauma, herpes lesions, etc). Chances are much higher with anal intercourse, but you did not mention any of that.
The fact that your HIV test was negative at 8 weeks is reassuring, but some people don't develop the "antibody" that makes the regular screening test for HIV positive for up until 6 months after exposure.
Please use protected sex if you don't know your partner HIV status. You are too young to run into big problems.
Hope that helped.
You should get retested at 6 months after exposure to be safe.
Oral sex transmission can occur, but chances are much lower compared to sexual intercourse. Also with penis-vaginal contact (without penetration), there is a very small chance of transmission, particularly if there were small sores (from whatever reason: either trauma, herpes lesions, etc). Chances are much higher with anal intercourse, but you did not mention any of that.
The fact that your HIV test was negative at 8 weeks is reassuring, but some people don't develop the "antibody" that makes the regular screening test for HIV positive for up until 6 months after exposure.
Please use protected sex if you don't know your partner HIV status. You are too young to run into big problems.
Hope that helped.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
I read from a lot of sources that a 6 week test is 99 % accurate. Is this false?
A six week test sensitivity is approximately 95%. This will also depend on the "generation" of the test you used. The newer the tests (4th generation) is the most accurate, because it detects some special HIV particles ("p24"). Some of the oldest tests sometimes only checks for HIV-1 (the most common in the United States) but not for HIV-2.
Even if you believe the accuracy is 99%, you don't want to be that 1%. Reasons to have a "falsely negative" result include:
-Being tested during the window period (when your antibodies have still not developed, and therefore the test won't be positive)
-Technical / lab error
-Inability to produce antibodies (immunoglobulin deficiency).
-Becoming infected with a rare HIV strain not picked up by routine ELISA HIV testing.
Even if you believe the accuracy is 99%, you don't want to be that 1%. Reasons to have a "falsely negative" result include:
-Being tested during the window period (when your antibodies have still not developed, and therefore the test won't be positive)
-Technical / lab error
-Inability to produce antibodies (immunoglobulin deficiency).
-Becoming infected with a rare HIV strain not picked up by routine ELISA HIV testing.
Note: Get personalized answers to your HIV related queries You can choose to talk face to face with your doctor. Book a Video Call now.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
Get personalised answers from verified doctor in minutes across 80+ specialties
