Hi Peter, I understa

Answer 1

Hi Peter, I understand that you are very frightened. I would be happy to answer your question. Whether or not the negative result is reliable or not depends on what the test was. There are two ways to test for HIV: antibody and RNA levels. The most common and widespread way of testing for HIV involves testing the blood for levels of antibodies against HIV. If a person is exposed to HIV, his or her body will develop antibodies against the virus to try to fight it off, and these can be detected in the blood. Antibodies can take a relatively long time to be detected (2-8 weeks or even longer in some individuals). RNA testing measures HIV directly (the virus itself instead of the antibodies against it), and this can return positive much more quickly than antibody testing-typically, 9-11 days after HIV exposure. So, if you were exposed to HIV 11 days ago, you would most likely not demonstrate any antibodies until 2 weeks after the event at the earliest, but the virus would most likely be detectable by now. Since your doctors told you to "not worry", I suspect they checked your HIV RNA, not antibodies to HIV. For your peace of mind, you can ask your doctor the type of test that was done-if it was the antibody test, you will need to wait several months and be tested again. But if it directly tested for HIV and was negative at 11 days, odds are you are in the clear.