Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date. Dear Doc,
I have two questions:
1. It is usually said that "Symptoms of HIV infection occur 2-6 weeks after exposure and lasts for about 8 weeks" does this mean that....
a) First symptoms (if at all they occur) usually occur anytime after completion of 2nd week from the day of exposure but before the beginning of the 7th week after the day of exposure?
OR
b) First symptoms (if they occur at all) can occur earliest anytime after completion of 2nd week from the day of exposure and anytime after that, that is even in the 10th or 12th week after the day of exposure?
2. Severely Lipemic blood samples tend to produce aberrated ELISA Test results. I read at a website that they are prone to produce false positives. Is it true?
Hi, for the first question, I think this is the more correct
interpretation...
Acute HIV Seroconversion Illness typically
happens two to three weeks post infection, it may take a little
longer to show up, and the symptoms may be of short duration, or
entirely missed by the patient. Many patients don't have any
such symptoms, at all.
As for the second question, severely lipemic samples interfere with the accuracy of many laboratory tests, everything from sodium to iron to glucose..........I know of no suggestion that fasting samples are required.
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