Question:

If an HIV test is positve and then negative, what does this mean? What are HIV antibodies?

Answer provided by:

Donna Sweet, M.D.
Professor of Internal Medicine
University of Kansas School of Medicine - Wichita

The screening test (ELISA, sometimes called EIA), is just that - a sensitive, but not always specific test. It can be positive, but if the more specific test (Western Blot or IFA) is negative, the first test was false and the person is HIV negative. Antibodies are globulins (proteins) that your body makes against foreign material (like HIV). Sometimes they are protective (like the antibodies you make after a vaccination) but unfortunately, they do not protect against HIV disease. They are only a marker of infection for HIV.

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