Dear Dr. Robert; i have nade donation to your foundation a couple of times. I hope you can anwer my question. I am 48 years old male(heterosexual).I had INSTI rapid test done 87 days after possible exposure(vaginal with someone of unknown status). Is it conclusive. Are rapid tests as reliable as standard ELISA. I also had standard ELISA 3rd gen. at 8 weeks after exposure.I have read some articles indicating that it can take upto 6 months to seroconvert in rare cases. Could I be one of those rare people. Do I need anothe test at 6 months. Please reply.

Hello.

I would consider your negative eight-week ELISA and 87-day rapid tests to be conclusive. A negative rapid HIV test outside the HIV seroconversion window is considered a true negative and as reliable as a negative ELISA. Yes, there are extremely rare cases in the literature of folks taking up to six months to seroconvert. Extremely rare things occur extremely rarely, right? Do I think you are one of these extremely rare individuals? No, the statistical odds of that would be a quantum leap beyond remote. Certainly if you remain worried, the option to retest at six months is always open to you. I'm confident, if you did retest, the result would once again be negative. Check out my recent blog posts. They discuss HIV-diagnostic testing and the limitations of some of the testing assays.

Be well.

Dr. Bob