Good afternoon Dr.Bob, hope you're feeling well. I am a 24 year old male soon to be (hopefully) employed through a state law enforcement agency. During the application process, they are required to conduct a blood test which includes an HIV test. I on the other hand have never been tested for HIV. I am a Hetero male whose had numerous protected and unprotected encounters. Though, I've read up a lot on the 'window period' issue, my last encounter was quite some time ago. Since I began college in 2003, I've been a single dude. Anyhow, I went in for my first ever anonymous test at Planned Parenthood, they had me swab my gums with some stick and about 30 minutes later, they said I'm negative. I then went to have a full blown physical done at the DR's office. The doctor offered to do a full blown CBC, Cholest, as well as an STD test through Quest Diag. I declined the STD test...Why? My doctor went on stating how 'Rapid Tests especially Oral are BS by misleading people'. He went on to say that the possibility of obtaining a false-negative is a realistic scenario especially being outside (as well as within) the window period. He scared me to death!!! What do I do? I need your help Doctor Bob. Thanks for your time.

Also, I do plan on getting the full STD checkup with Quest, I just wanted a little reassurance the I can at least hopefully somewhat expect a negative HIV test result.

Also one last thing, I suddenly developed a slight case of floaters, could this be consistent with late stages of HIV? According to the Doctor it is.....

-J.J.

Hi Soon-To-Be-Cop,

What do you do??? I'd suggest you change doctors immediately. The one you've got is blatantly incompetent. A negative rapid HIV test beyond the three-month window period is considered to be a definitive and conclusive true negative and no additional testing is warranted. False-negative results are not a problem! There have been some false-positive results with rapid oral testing; however, this would be quickly discovered by the more specific follow-up test (Western Blot), which would be part of any HIV-screening program. That your physician provided you with completely inaccurate information is indeed alarming. That he "scared you to death" inappropriately is reprehensible.

Regarding your "floaters," these are most likely completely normal. They certainly are not related to HIV. Why? Because you definitely do not have HIV! If they bother you, have an ophthalmologist check them out. (I'm willing to bet they are indeed normal.)

Dr. Bob