If a person tests positive for the HIV antibody, it means that person has the HIV infection.
HIV-positive. Being HIV-positive means that the individual has been exposed to the virus and their immune system has produced antibodies against it, which can be detected through blood testing. It does not necessarily mean they have developed symptoms of HIV or AIDS.
Your HIV testing experience may vary depending on where you seek services. Standard testing procedure for many HIV testing sites involve a two-step process. Rapid response, oral HIV testing is available in many locations. The test collects a cell sample from the gums and detects antibodies associated with HIV infection. If a rapid response test is reactive for HIV antibodies, a person is considered "preliminarily positive" for HIV infection. After an initial positive, the most common confirmatory tests may be administered orally or by blood draw. Getting tested for HIV is a very sexually responsible behavior. Good luck!
The major concern with HIV testing that is inaccurate is when people test too early. In order for an HIV test to be accurate, there have to be enough antibodies present for the test to pick up. If a person tests too soon after infection, the body may not have had time to develop antibodies which can be measured. In these cases, a test will return a negative result, when in fact the person is HIV positive.
Antibodies to the AIDS virus indicates the person is HIV positive.
Not exactly. "HIV positive" means that someone's test for HIV antibodies came back positive, i.e. that the antibodies are present and that the person has at least been exposed to, and is almost certainly infected with, the virus. AIDS, however, is a syndrome, or condition. There isn't a specific test for it, so the terms "positive" and "negative" have no real meaning. AIDS means that not only is the person infected, but the infection has progressed to the point that they are showing symptoms. You can be "HIV positive" (the test showed antibodies) or "HIV negative" (the test did not show antibodies), but not "AIDS positive" or "AIDS negative". Everyone with AIDS is (or should be, since HIV is the virus that causes AIDS) "HIV positive", but it's possible to be "HIV positive" for a considerable length of time before eventually developing AIDS.
Sorry, but if you've got a positive result on the HIV antibodies test, that indicates HIV infection.
They look for the bodies antibodies that fight HIV infection to tell if a person is infected with the virus.
It means that the person has HIV.
HIV testing is a very sexually responsible behavior. When getting tested for the virus, the testing device doesnt test for HIV, it tests for HIV antibodies that the body produces in response to HIV infection. Receiving a negative antibody test is definitely encouraging, however there is a period of time when antibody tests are not able to detect infection. Antibodies can take up to 90 days to develop to detectable levels. If a person had any exposure to HIV+ fluids(blood, semen, vaginal fluid, breast milk) within the 90 days prior to testing, the HIV test would not be accurate.
When a person contracts HIV, their body releases certain antibodies to fight that infection. As such, if those antibodies are found in a person, then that individual has HIV. These antibodies can be detected through a simple examination of oral fluids or a blood sample. If you are found to have these antibodies, then you are seropositive.
There is a huge difference between them. HIV Positive means that the test found HIV-Antibodies in your blood (you can find them in the mouth sometimes). A HIV-Negative test means that the solution did not find any signs of HIV in your body and your in great shape.
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.