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Sore Throat, Dry Mouth, Headache, White Tongue. Negative PCR DNA HIV Test. How Accurate Is The Test At 21 Days?
Question: I had sex with a woman who i dont know with high risk. I was singing 5 days after and i had a sore throat. then i felt my mouth dry. one of my teeth is a little bad so i XXXXXXX t know if is because of that but my tongue become white and now is getting a color like yellow in the middle. 11 days after i felt in my mouth bactery very hard. like burning my mouth. I feel chills in the nites and my stomach hurt. I feel like i have a bactery in there. i have swollen glands. o my god i'm so scare.
I dont have diarrea. sometime headache. i dont have rash and i dont have mouth sores. just my tongue white and the bactery that i felt were like burning my mouth. but i XXXXXXX feel that any more.
I did a pcr dna hiv 1 test and a std test 21 days after resulting negative.
how accurate is a pcr test (negative) at 21 days after the risk? and what is the chance to become possitive after 3 month with a elisa test?
I dont have diarrea. sometime headache. i dont have rash and i dont have mouth sores. just my tongue white and the bactery that i felt were like burning my mouth. but i XXXXXXX feel that any more.
I did a pcr dna hiv 1 test and a std test 21 days after resulting negative.
how accurate is a pcr test (negative) at 21 days after the risk? and what is the chance to become possitive after 3 month with a elisa test?
Hi
It is understandable to be worried.
The white/yellow of your tongue sounds like oral thrush which is candidal (yeast)infection of the mouth and tongue. It can occur in different situations such as (1) persons with diabetes (2) tongue piercing (3) persons using steroid medication or any other medication that can suppress the immune system (4) as a result of using antibiotics (5) dentures (6) persons with any disease that suppresses their immune system such as lupus or HIV (7) poor health for any other reason
You should consider visiting your doctor to determine the cause and to be treated.
It usually resolves with the use of antifungal medication.
In HIV and in other illnesses, there is something called the window period which is the time between infection and when a test can reliably detect this infection. Normally when screening for HIV with the ELISA test , the screening period is said to be up to 6 mths because this test looks for antibodies (the body's reaction to the virus) and there may not be a sufficient reaction for it to be detected.
97% of persons with HIV will have a positive ELISA within the 3 month period.
The test that you did, the PCR looks for the virus itself and not the body's reaction to it and the window period is shorter for this reason.Most labs state up to a 4 week window period. Your test was done at about 3 weeks so it is likely to be negative as reported, but to be sure you should repeat after the 4 week window has passed.
I hope this information is helpful. Feel free to ask any other questions
It is understandable to be worried.
The white/yellow of your tongue sounds like oral thrush which is candidal (yeast)infection of the mouth and tongue. It can occur in different situations such as (1) persons with diabetes (2) tongue piercing (3) persons using steroid medication or any other medication that can suppress the immune system (4) as a result of using antibiotics (5) dentures (6) persons with any disease that suppresses their immune system such as lupus or HIV (7) poor health for any other reason
You should consider visiting your doctor to determine the cause and to be treated.
It usually resolves with the use of antifungal medication.
In HIV and in other illnesses, there is something called the window period which is the time between infection and when a test can reliably detect this infection. Normally when screening for HIV with the ELISA test , the screening period is said to be up to 6 mths because this test looks for antibodies (the body's reaction to the virus) and there may not be a sufficient reaction for it to be detected.
97% of persons with HIV will have a positive ELISA within the 3 month period.
The test that you did, the PCR looks for the virus itself and not the body's reaction to it and the window period is shorter for this reason.Most labs state up to a 4 week window period. Your test was done at about 3 weeks so it is likely to be negative as reported, but to be sure you should repeat after the 4 week window has passed.
I hope this information is helpful. Feel free to ask any other questions
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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