hiv detective

May 8, 2009

Dr. Bob, First off I want to thank you for making me the absolutely most informed patient my OBGYN has ever had! I don't think they thank you but who cares. I now go to my appts with knowledge and understanding. (more knowledge about this than they have) Here is one question I truly cannot find on your forum, however you may prove me wrong. By the way I have had many conflicting results from negative rapids to positive elisa's to indeterminate western blots so here you go...If a western blot is read as indeterminate and a person is hiv infected, how long until that test should read as positive. (I know this is no guarantee) I had two indeterminate results the second taken 30 days after the first, would this be showing positive by now? Is there a timeline with western blots? Thank you for all you do.

Response from Dr. Frascino

Hi,

Generally speaking if someone had an indeterminate WB due to incomplete seroconversion, a repeat WB a month later would show a definitive positive reaction.

If indeed you have conflicting results on a variety of HIV-antibody tests, I would recommend you get a qualitative HIV DNA PCR test. Although not recommended for routine HIV screening, the PCR DNA can be helpful in sorting out unclear or conflicting HIV-antibody test results.

Good luck.

Dr. Bob