Hello I had a very risk encounter and followed up with a Rna HIV test 12.5 days later and it came back negative. The only symptomss now are enlarged lymphnodes and stomach discomfort at exactly teh two week mark. The day before those symptoms happened had done alot of reading on symptoms. I guess the question is is how reliable and accurate can teh rna test be at that amount of time? I was wondering if you would know the percentage of accuracy at 12 days. Thanks alot in advance very worried

Hello and thanks for posting.

In general, I avoid answering questions about "do I have HIV", since this is a forum about HIV treatment.

RNA testing isn't a good way to tell if you have HIV; there's really little data on the accuracy of RNA testing early after exposure.

In my opinion, the testing doesn't add much to our usual program of ELISA and Western blot tests at baseline, 1 and 3 months. For example, if the RNA test (like yours) is negative, you'd still want to see the follow up antibody tests. On the other hand, if it were positive, you'd know that you had HIV; but then again, an antibody test would tell the same thing, in all likelihood, at the 1 month point.

Be well, BY