1st time t to the clinic i had a blood test i was called by my ob stating that there are two parts to the test one part came out positive and the other part negative i went in i was told not to worry that the 1st band to appear was positive all the other bands were negative she then called a specialist who seen this b4 in pregnancy and said not to worry but should i really be worried only the first band to appear was positive all the others were negative they did mention more testing....im freaking out plllzzzz help

Hi,

Without actually seeing which tests were ordered and what the exact results are, it's difficult for me to comment. I would guess you had a reactive (positive) screening ELISA test and negative confirmatory Western Blot (WB) test. A positive ELISA combined with a negative confirmatory WB test is considered a negative HIV test.

If for some reason you had a positive WB and negative ELISA, this would mean your tests were ordered inappropriately. WB tests should only be run to confirm a positive ELISA (or EIA or rapid) test. If the WB was run in error and is positive with a negative ELISA, the WB result would be considered a false positive.

Finally I should mention pregnancy (or past pregnancy) can produce nonspecific cross-reacting antibodies that can cause false-positive (or indeterminate) HIV-antibody test results. You can read much more about pregnancy and HIV testing in the archives of this forum. Have a look. I'm confident you'll find the information reassuring.

Good luck. Be well.

Dr. Bob