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Hello Dr. Joseph, thank you for your reply to my question and sorry to disturb you again I have another question which is if a blood sample is taken and left 12 hours before the test is done, would this affect the accuracy of the test? will the antibodies disappear or die if they left for a long time? thank you in advance
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Response from Dr. McGowan
Tests for HIV antibodies using the standard ELISA methods have been confirmed to be sensitive (have a positive result when the infection is present) 99.9% of the time even when the samples are left for a week and after multiple cycles of freezing and thawing. So the test is very accurate. Tests can also be done on dried blood spots. The antibodies are not alive.
Best,
Joe
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Response from Dr. McGowan
