Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date. I am a Brazilian citzen living in China for already three years.
I checked some of your answers regarding HIV testing, and according to it is easy to conclude that the new HIV antibodies tests have their results considered to be conclusive since the third or fourth week after potential contact with the virus. I tested negative using an ELISA 4th generation past 4 to 6 weeks after my last unprotected relation.
Based in many of your published comments , I would be quite sure that I am not infected , however it is still easy to find in the web many doctors advising their patients that the ELISA test is only conclusive 3-6 months post exposure. It makes me confused, would you please clarify this situation ? Is it, in my case (4-6 weeks) really enough time for the ELISA 4th generation test to detect HIV antibodies?
Thank you very much from China.
Lisa Capaldini, M.D.
Internal Medicine
The confusion about the appropriate "window" for HIV testing -- that is, how soon after exposure to HIV is an HIV antibody test reliable?-- stems from improvements in antibody testing over the last ten years. With the OLDER tests, antibodies to HIV were RELIABLY detectable 3 -6 months after HIV infection. The NEWER tests are reliable within 3-4 weeks of exposure. Most labs now use the newer test, hence the recommendation to test within one month of HIV exposure.
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