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What Does The Result Of HIV Test Mean During Pregnancy?
my wife who is 4 months pregnant got testing done for HIV. The results showed non reactive (0.25). What does it mean? I know it means she does not have HIV/AIDS, but the 0.25 measure? what does that indicate? Does she have a possibility of that 0.25 increasing and hence becoming reactive?
Mon, 21 Sep 2015
Hello, and I hope I can help you today.
The number value of the negative test for HIV is really not relevant. Every test has a cutoff value above which the test is considered positive. This number varies with the individual test. The HIV test looks for proteins in the blood made by the HIV virus. No one has a value of zero on a negative test, because no test is 100% accurate and a small amount of other proteins in the blood may also react with the HIV test. A confirmatory test, called a Western blot test, is performed in all HIV testing that comes out positive (over a certain value) because of this margin of error and the gravity of an HIV positive diagnosis.
The only way that number could go up in your wife's case is if she contracted HIV.
So (and this is true about most lab tests) as long as the test is negative by the laboratory standard it doesn't really matter what the actual value is.
I hope this information was helpful and that it adequately answered your question. Best wishes for the rest of your wife's preganacy.
Sincerely, Dr. Brown
The number value of the negative test for HIV is really not relevant. Every test has a cutoff value above which the test is considered positive. This number varies with the individual test. The HIV test looks for proteins in the blood made by the HIV virus. No one has a value of zero on a negative test, because no test is 100% accurate and a small amount of other proteins in the blood may also react with the HIV test. A confirmatory test, called a Western blot test, is performed in all HIV testing that comes out positive (over a certain value) because of this margin of error and the gravity of an HIV positive diagnosis.
The only way that number could go up in your wife's case is if she contracted HIV.
So (and this is true about most lab tests) as long as the test is negative by the laboratory standard it doesn't really matter what the actual value is.
I hope this information was helpful and that it adequately answered your question. Best wishes for the rest of your wife's preganacy.
Sincerely, Dr. Brown
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