High Risk Activity (no condom) with known HIV+ leading to SEVERE mono-like symptoms 3 1/2 weeks later. Deciding that I only wanted to be tested for HIV once and only once, I waited 6 months and took the test. Despite being absolutely sure i was poz, the antibody test came back negative. Is it recommended that I be retested either with antibody or PCR given my compelling symptoms? I live in the rurals and bet they dont know what a positive result looks like. Please advise me. I am afraid to have unprotected sex with my regular partner because I dont trust the test. I love her and want to be sure she is safe. Thanks.

Hi. Thank you for your question. If you have tested negative for HIV, 6 months or more after a possible exposure to the virus, this indicates, with more than 99% accuracy, that you are not infected with HIV. We do not normally recommend further testing, when a person tests negative at 6 months. Your test is as accurate as any test in medicine could ever be. This also indicates that your symptoms at 3 1/2 weeks were not HIV related, and were not due to Acute Viral Syndrome.

In a situation such as yours, when a person has a HIGH risk exposure (like unprotected intercourse) with a KNOWN HIV positive person, if they were to show symptoms that may be related to Acute Viral Syndrome, physicians can do special tests to help rule out HIV as the cause of these symptoms. If there were a SIGNIFICANT chance that a persons flu-like symptoms may be due to HIV, a physician can do tests like Viral Load tests and antigen tests (together) to help determine if a persons symptoms are due to Acute Viral Syndrome or not. But we can ONLY recommend these tests for persons having symptoms strongly suggestive of Acute Viral Syndrome, AND having a KNOWN exposure to HIV. These types of tests are NOT for persons worried about flu-like symptoms, and being worried about an exposure to someone of unknown HIV status. Viral load tests and antigen tests will not always pick up an HIV infection; this is one of the many reasons why we don't recommend these tests for routine HIV testing. But if a person has a KNOWN exposure to HIV, AND has symptoms suggestive of Acute Viral Syndrome, viral load tests and antigen tests together can be done (while symptoms are present) to help rule out HIV as the cause. In addition to these tests, antibody testing up to 6 months after the KNOWN exposure is still recommended.

In your particular case, since you tested HIV negative at 6 months, this indicates that you were not infected with HIV, and further testing is usually not necessary. You also would not need to take viral load tests and antigen tests, as I have discussed here, since your antibody test has already shown that you are not infected with HIV.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to call the Centers for Disease Control at 1.800.232.4636 (Nationwide).