Dr. Frascino, Doctor, I have a question and its worrying the hell out of me and my personal family doctor has me this way at this point. On April 30th, 2008, I had a full STD check down as I do every two years. Well the doctor called me on May 8th, 2008 and informed me over the phone that all the tests came back fine except the HIV test came back Indeterminate and Inconclusive and that we will retest in 4 weeks I said okay he said you have nothing to worry about but your anxiety will be playing with your mind and to relax and you will be okay.

I must say Doctor that, I am a active gay male and I do not perform oral sex and I do not allow myself to be penetrated. I do though have oral sex performed on me and I do wear condoms and and I do check to make sure they don't break.

Now everything that I have read states that alot of things can cause this result in the test including being vacinatted well the Last week of Feb 2008, I have receive my 2nd Hepattis shot could his have caused this result.

I am truely scared and what are my chances of contracting the virus??? I do try and maintain safety please answer for me thanks.

Steve in Toledo Ohio.

Hey Toledo Steve,

The most important factor in evaluating indeterminate results is risk assessment. Folks, like you, in low-risk categories with indeterminate tests are almost never infected with either HIV-1 or HIV-2. You can (or already have) read many testimonials in the archives from folks freaking out about unexpected indeterminate HIV test results. You can also review the common causes of indeterminate test results. Could it have been your recent hepatitis vaccination? Possibly. However, there are many other potential causes as well. Should your repeat test continue to show indeterminate results, I'd recommend you get a qualitative PCR DNA. This test, although not recommended for routine HIV screening, can be helpful in sorting out unclear or indeterminate HIV-antibody test results.

Good luck Steve. I'm here if you need me, OK?

Dr. Bob