Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date. Q: If my pregnant wife decides to get tested for HIV will the fact that she received a Rhogam shot to inhibit antibody production due to the RH- blood affect the HIV Elisa test ??? i.e., Does the Rhogam shot affect the production of HIV antibodies ?
A: Rhogam is a specific treatment for Rh antibody related problems, and should have no affect on HIV antibody production.
Q: I have heard that there can be false positives in pregnant women. What tests does this relate to (i.e., Elisa, WB, PCR-RNA, PCR-DNA, or PCR bDNA)
A: Pregnant women are commonly tested for HIV infection and there are no specific problems.
Q: So what is the best method to test her (8 months pregnant)
assuming that she is 13 weeks from exposure ???
Thanks in advance for considering answering this.
A: I would get the standard Elisa/Western blot tests. If it helps you sleep better at night, you could also get a PCR, but I don't think it's necessary, at all.
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