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Is one test enough?
#6880 - 07/09/00 07:58 AM
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I had a possible exposure 11 years ago and have started freaking out the possibility of me being + for HIV. I took a test a year ago and it was neg but haven't been able to relax about it. I went to another doctor, (moved to another country), and explained my situation. He said we should test again and see. I asked if he thought I had anything to worry about and he said "I am fairly certain you don't, but I won't know for sure until we get this test result back." Now I am freaking out. Is the one neg result not enough? I have had no symptoms, I am a hetero female that had unprotected sex with a hetero male, I don't know his status and neither of us are IDU.
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If it was 11 years go, you're already past the average time for showing AIDS symptoms. But you're fine, right? That should give you confidence. Have an ELISA and a PCR done, and when they come back negative, believe them -- they're both more than 99% accurate. If you still have "bad thoughts" after that, you may want to see a therapist -- at that point, it's not about rational fear any more. (Most people would say it's not about rational fear right now.)
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relax
#6884 - 07/09/00 12:34 PM
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If the exposure was 11 years ago and you had a test 1 year ago, that gave you 10 years to seroconvert. Trust me, if you tested negative 10 years after the exposure, youre negative. These HIV tests on the market now are very accurate. The only way you could have HIV is if there had been another exposure in between the last time you tested negative and today. Anyhow, the doctor you went to probably isn't very experienced wiuth HIV related topics. I had the same thing happen to me. I really don't think there's anything for you to worry about
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Whoa! I wouldn't go advising someone to have more tests done if they've tested negative 11 yeats after an exposure! And definitely not a PCR! They're expensive!
If there were no exposures in the 11 years that have gone by, then you are fine! Don't test anymore!
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Re: relax
#6936 - 07/10/00 09:08 AM
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The CDC requires a double ELISA as a minimum testing algorithm. In effect, you had two tests when you had your ELISA done. SO relax. And you certainly are out of that horrible window waiting period.
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Re: relax
#6937 - 07/10/00 09:13 AM
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Oops, I forgot to mention. Back in the 80's, even BEFORE THE HIV test was licensed in 1985, I was in school for microbiology at a state university. EVEN then, the ELISA was so incredibly sensitive. TO demonstrate, I will recount what my professor told us about the ELISA: picture the EMpire State Building in New York filled with almost 100% white ping pong balls. Now if you added just two "yellow" ping pong balls to that incredible number of white ping pong balls already filling the entire volume of the Empire State Building, the ELISA could do the equivalent of detecting just those two little yellow ping pong balls. THAT IS SENSITIVE. And the test only improved since 1983 when I learned that! So don't worry.
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