Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date. My question is: I had an possible exposure to HIV, and had the following tests run and wanted to know if these tests have ruled out HIV....
At 11 weeks, I had the antibody tests and it is negative. The testing facility says that these tests have ruled out infection of HIV. I just wanted to know If they are accurate or if these tests are unreliable for the detection of HIV because if I am infected I would like to start treatment if necessary.
Mark H. Katz, M.D.
Regional HIV/AIDS Physician Coordinator
Kaiser Permanente of Southern California
The negative test at 11 weeks is reasonably conclusive that you did not acquire HIV. The usual standard, however, is to wait until 12 weeks, and this would pick up more than 99% of all infections. (Sometimes people also repeat test at 6 months, since there have been very rare cases, less than 1 in tens or hundreds of thousands, of people not turning positive until somewhere after 3 months.) So, to be absolutely sure, re-test at 12 weeks, and/or 6 months. Good luck!
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