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Facts. Window Period
#190624 - 05/10/06 11:40 AM
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How Do I Know If I Have HIV?
The only way to know for sure if you have HIV is to get an HIV test.
If you are at risk of HIV, you should have an HIV test every six months. You should also reduce your risk (see the section on Prevention).
Soon after HIV infection, the body begins to make antibodies that fight the virus. The HIV test looks for these antibodies in your blood. After about three months, most people have enough anti-HIV antibodies to test positive on standard HIV tests. Some people don't test positive for six months or even a year, so repeat testing is needed.
The HIV test is simple. Home tests are available. You can also get tested at labs that keep your identity secret. You can also get tested by your doctor, and at your public health department. If you are doing a home test, or if you order a test from a lab, a positive result means you should see a doctor to confirm that you're really infected.
If you know you are at high risk of HIV infection and come down with a bad case of the flu, see a doctor right away. It could be the early signs of HIV infection. Tell your doctor about your risk behavior. There are very sensitive tests that can tell if you've got HIV -- and treatment during this very early stage of infection works best.
Before getting tested, think about what your test result will mean. Most people need help with this, so see a counselor, psychologist, or doctor for advice -- or call your local AIDS hotline. Prepare for your result.
If you test negative, you may want to talk about how to reduce your future risk. There are many private AIDS organizations that can give you this kind of help. Usually these organizations have "been-there, done-that" counselors you can relate to.
If you test positive, you'll need help deciding what to do. HIV infection isn't a death sentence. It does mean that you will need to take special care of your health. It also means that you will have to take special care not to infect anybody else with the AIDS virus.
If you test positive for HIV, you must have medical care. If you don't have a doctor, a local AIDS organization or AIDS hotline can help you find one. Get some help from a person you trust. If you don't have a person like this in your life, get help from a professional counselor. Have this person go with you to the doctor.
If you test positive, you have to tell your sex and/or needle-sharing partners that they, too, need to be tested. But you don't have to tell everybody else. Tell only those people who can support you. If you have children, talk with a counselor about what to tell them, and when.
Taken from http://www.hipusa.com/eTools/webmd/A-Z_Encyclopedia/aids_hivtreatment.htm
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This is appauling. I guess my 7 month -ve is crap then. I will be taking another test at the 1 yr mark. Here I was all happy thinking I was in the clear.... I guess the other posts from days past are correcty saying that the Window Period is all industry driven to get money out of us... What a shameful World we live in!!!
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Remember, I think a negative test at 3 months is encouraging, another negative test at six months is a little bit more encouraging, a negative test at 12 months is really encouraging, another negative test at 18 months reduces the possibilities of being infected to less than 1 in 1000. But I'm clear that most people will have positive results before six months if they get infected, anyway the 1 in 1000 can help spread the disease...
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SteveR
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Legend
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Reged: 07/19/05
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Posts: 576
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Leon,
You are completely misrepresenting the window period. This is from the CDC, which is probably the most conservative health organization in the country:
"Most people will develop detectable antibodies within 2 to 8 weeks (the average is 25 days). Even so, there is a chance that some individuals will take longer to develop detectable antibodies. Therefore, if the initial negative HIV test was conducted within the first 3 months after possible exposure, repeat testing should be considered more than 3 months after the exposure occurred to account for the possibility of a false-negative result. Ninety seven percent will develop antibodies in the first 3 months following the time of their infection. In very rare cases, it can take up to 6 months to develop antibodies to HIV."
You do not under any circumstances need to continue testing beyond six months.
Steve
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Leon is a fearmonger and a moron.
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H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D., Senior Health Research Leader at the Battelle Center for Public Health Research and Evaluation, Seattle, Washington, and Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Center of AIDS and STD, University of Washington. He answers some questions for people on medhelp.org and here is what he has to say:
Modern HIV blood tests can become positive as few as 10 days after infection and are positive in ~95% of infected persons within 3-4 weeks, reaching ~100% by 6 weeks. (Please nobody hold me to precise numbers--but these are close.) It is almost unheard of for a positive test result to be delayed 3 months and especially 6 months. That was the story until a few years ago, but not now.
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The OraQuick HIV test is excellent, just as accurate as other tests except for a slightly more common problem of false-positive results. But your negative result is completely reliable, and 7 weeks after exposure is enough time for the test to become positive. The official advice often is to wait 3 months to be 100% sure, but it really isn't necessary to be tested beyond 6 weeks.
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At least 99% of persons who acquire HIV will be positive by 6 weeks, so almost certainly you are home free.
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Modern HIV tests usually turn positive within 4-6 weeks, so you really don't have to wait.
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The official line is to wait 3 months for an HIV test. However, with modern tests the results are virtually always positive by 6 weeks and over 95% of the time by 4 weeks.
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Most infected people have positive result by 2-3 weeks, and it is virtually universal by 6 weeks; official recommendations say 3 months but it is rare for seroconversion to be delayed that long.
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your negative tests at 3 and 6 weeks prove you didn't get HIV
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virtually all labs use the most modern technology and you can rely on negative results at 4-6 weeks
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Leon, this MEDICAL DOCTOR contends that the 3 month mark is a highly conservative estimate to protect from lawsuits and whatnot and in his practical experience he seems to suggest that 6 weeks is actually highly accurate. He certainly sounds confident of himself. Why would such a distinguished scientist on this issue be either mistaken or a liar? What would his motive be? Are your credentials so impressive that anyone should listen to you over him? I don't intend to be rude, but I'm just curious.
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AIDS2HIV
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Legend
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Reged: 12/19/05
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***If you are at risk of HIV, you should have an HIV test every six months. You should also reduce your risk (see the section on Prevention).***
read that carefully Leon...since you think you are so good at picking things apart to justify your behavior...
here let me help you...it says, if you ARE at risk of HIV....its doesnt say was,were,could have been, might have, maybe, i think i was, nor does it say Im too afraid or proud to seek mental help so im blaming hiv instead.....it means if you ARE at risk, as in you are with someone confirmed positive, sexually, on a regular basis, its recommended to get tested every 6 months
maybe the others wont tell you & your little clan on these boards, but i damn sure will...mental illness is NOT a mystery disease...have the fun here while you all still can, because soon changes will be made, and may find yourselves banned from this site* Your cowardness to address your real issues, is NO EXCUSE to be here, conducting the mental circus that you have been. you want to look up things on the internet , look up things that actually pertain to you and your group....such as "irrational behavior" see what thats associated with, or maybe "denial"....Hiv doesnt pertain to you, NO FORM of it......Quit bitchin about the physicians that cant find out whats wrong with you....of course a physician wont find it, your problem is mental illness, go see a trained mental health professional afterall, in your own words....you'd do anything to find out whats wrong, blah blah blah. Go seek mental help with an honest mouth and an open mind....before you do like others who suffer from mental illness that doesnt get treated properly, and unravel, and hurt someone and get your ass locked up for the rest of your pitiful life....
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Survivor
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Legend
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Reged: 10/30/05
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Posts: 3256
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Loc: Get off the fence and live again!
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[quote]Remember, I think a negative test at 3 months is encouraging, another negative test at six months is a little bit more encouraging, a negative test at 12 months is really encouraging, another negative test at 18 months reduces the possibilities of being infected to less than 1 in 1000. But I'm clear that most people will have positive results before six months if they get infected, anyway the 1 in 1000 can help spread the disease... [/quote]
RUBBISH!
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The ignorance Leon spews is almost hateful. If is as if he wants people to live in fear and apprehension.
Leon, see a shrink. Also, I wonder why you haven't pursued legal action because you claim to have been sexually assaulted. Your rage seems aimed at the incident that brought you here.
You don't seem logical or rational. It makes it hard to believe anything you claim.
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Most hiv testing at clinics and that use Elisa looking for both antigens and antibodies and so does reduce the window period down to 4-6 wks Leons is probably some right wing neo-conservative christian
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SteveR
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Legend
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Reged: 07/19/05
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Actually, Mikey, I don't think that's true. (At least, not in the United States.) Usually you'd have to ask for an antigen test if you want one, and usually you'd have to go to a doctor to get it. Most HIV testing sites perform only antibody testing.
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[quote]... fun here while you all still can, because soon changes will be made, and may find yourselves banned from this site*
...get your ass locked up for the rest of your pitiful life.... [/quote]
Will one of these changes involve getting rid of you? You haven't posted here much in a while and I don't think that many people have missed you.
If you reread many of your old posts, you come across as much of a raving lunatic as those who you like to complain about. You are overbearing, unpleasant, rude and downright threatening. I bet that you are even more of a peach in real life. In terms of you not believing in mystery disease, do some simple research, you don't have all of the answers. And "mental illness" is not the key to everyone's problem as you like to claim that it is. There are many people who are sick in this world and docs can't help them. Many people get labelled with diseases like MS and fibro that have no known explanation or cause. These are basically just named mystery diseases.
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Thought it was usually the case in th US too when they actually take the blood rather than orally this is the norm with 3rd/4th generation ELISA testing tests for both antigen/antibodies and is just as cost effective as the older generation testing - check out these sites:
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=88179
http://jcm.asm.org/cgi/content/full/39/7/2518
http://www.annfammed.org/cgi/content/full/3/5/391
or google it for further references
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Agreed. A2H is as much of a nuisance on this board as those that he complains about. He's like the big bully at school who thinks he can make up all the rules. He's always accusing eveyone else of having mental problems when it's appearant that he has issues of his own that he needs to deal with.
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SteveR
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Legend
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Reged: 07/19/05
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Hmmmm....well, I have to admit I just don't know enough about this. The articles you reference are medical journal reports that evaluate the efficacy of a dual antigen-antibody ELISA. But I don't know how widely these tests are actually used in the real world. You may be right -- they may be commonplace. I just don't know. I'll have to do some research! Thanks for pointing it out, though.
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