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How To Test For HIV?

Posted on Tue, 18 Mar 2014

Question: Hello Good Evng Doctor I have had a sex encounter on XXXXXXX 18th and I got my self tested on XXXXXXX 29th 11 th day with CMIA the results came back negative .. on 29th day I had a rapid test as well which came back negative .. I am kind of worried now I am ot sure what to do please help me analyze my results and give me a ray of hope

Answered by Dr. Sankaranantham Murugan (8 hours later)

Brief Answer: Test on 11th day not sufficient.Have another test. Detailed Answer: Hi, Welcome to HCM. Thanks for posting your query. I can understand your concern about HIV. But you had not mentioned anything about your sexual activity, especially about the one you consider as risk. ( Anal, vaginal,oral or kissing alone,protected or unprotected,known partner or unknown partner etc.) HIV CMIA is a 4th generation test usually detects both P24 Antigen and antibodies against HIV1&2. Presence of P24 antigen can be detected as early as one week in the presence of an possible infection. But the test becomes more conclusive and reliable after 3-4 weeks. Some CMIA might not have included P24 detection at all. In that case the test becomes conclusive only 12 weeks after the high risk activity. So I need more particulars about the CMIA test, whether it detects both P24 and antibodies or not. Anyhow as you had the test on 11th day after sex contact, it is better to repeat once again to rule out the least possibility of HIV, 4 weeks after the contact with an antigen based test. Dr S.Murugan

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Sankaranantham Murugan (1 hour later)

Hi dr Thank you for your time in replying my question Here are the details 1. My sexual encounter is kissing vagina with cracked lips which have an opening in the middle of the lip 2. The test that I took detects for both antigens + antibodies . The test that i took was at SRL labs bangalore they named it as HIV Early Screen Please let me know accordingly Thank You XXXX

Answered by Dr. Sankaranantham Murugan (11 hours later)

Brief Answer: Kissing vagina carries a negligible risk for HIV Detailed Answer: Hi, Welcome back. Any sex other than penetration either to anus or vagina has a low risk for HIV. Oral sex with a woman carries a very low risk only. That too you had only kissing the female genitals. Your risk is negligible in spite of the cracked lip. CMIA which detects both antigen and antibodies is a very sensitive test. Negative CMIA on 11th day after the high risk activity ruled out HIV almost 90%. To make it 100%, it is better to have one more test after 4 weeks. After seeing the negative test you will be relieved from your tension about HIV totally. Dr S.Murugan

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Sankaranantham Murugan (2 hours later)

Thank you for your reply Dr. I have given my samples in the lab this friday. I am waiting on the results to come back .. i hope it will be a negative as well .. i will keep you posted thank you once again Thank You

Answered by Dr. Sankaranantham Murugan (2 hours later)

Brief Answer: Welcome. Any more doubts feel free to ask Detailed Answer: HI, Welcome once again. You are welcome. You will get another HIV negative result to confirm that you are HIV free. If you have any more questions to ask, feel free to shoot your queries. Dr S.Murugan

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Sankaranantham Murugan (30 hours later)

Hi Doctor I have given Samples at the end of 5th week They have performed a Test and the results showed are this way HIV 1/O/2 Abs-ICMA 01 HIV 1/O/2 Abs-Index Value <1.00 <1.00 01 Index Value: Specimen reactivity relative to the negative cutoff. HIV 1/O/2 Abs, Qual Non Reactive Non Reactive RNA Qualitative HIV-1 RNA Qualitative Non Reactive 02 HIV-1 RNA not detected. CLSI recommends considering HIV-2 nucleic acid testing if clinically indicated. Above tests at 5 weeks will confirm I am not infected from HIV Please help me understand the results Thank You XXXX

Answered by Dr. Sankaranantham Murugan (4 hours later)

Brief Answer: Free from HIV1(Commonest). HIV 2 to be ruled out Detailed Answer: Hi, Welcome back. HIV 1/0/2 Abs is an antibody test. 5 weeks time is within window period. Antibody tests will become conclusive only after 12 weeks. Regarding the negative HIV RNA Qualitative test, it is more reliable and conclusive after 5 weeks and the nonreactive result confirmed that you free from HIV1, which is the commonest HIV infection worldwide. But there lies a rarest possibility of HIV 2, is there which has to be ruled out. It is better to repeat HIV 1/0/2 after 12 weeks will be more conclusive and the negative test rule out HIV1&2 and a rare sero type 0. Now you are HIV free to an extent of 99%.If you rule out HIV 2 also, you would be relieved and we can say 100% HIV free. That is my suggestion. DR S.Murugan

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar