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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Is There A Chance That HIV Is Not Detected By Tests?

I had sex with a few women with risk of infection in 2003-2004. Since then I did HIV tests in 2006, 2010, 2012, and now in Dec 2014. Last 3 tests were combi Ag/Ac HIV. All tests were negative. Is it possible that I was infected but the tests did not detect the antibody / antigenes because these were not produced by the body? I mean false negatives?
Mon, 29 Dec 2014
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HIV AIDS Specialist,  's  Response
No , in your scenario they can't be false positive . There is a huge gap , many fold greater than the the window period of HIV between the time of exposure 2004 and final tests coming negative in Dec 2014 .
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Internal Medicine Specialist,  Dr. Karen Steinberg's  Response
It is extremely unlikely that all these tests have been false negatives. With your exposure being so long ago, if you had gotten HIV, you would be showing other signs by now and the tests would be positive. If the antibody is not produced by your body, then you were not infected. The antigen is a direct measurement of the virus, and if the virus were present, this test would detect it- it is not a matter of your body producing the antigen. So a negative test means there is no virus detectable in your body. You don't need to continue worrying about this. Just be sure to take proper precautions in the future so you don't acquire an infection later. Hope this helps.
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Is There A Chance That HIV Is Not Detected By Tests?

No , in your scenario they can t be false positive . There is a huge gap , many fold greater than the the window period of HIV between the time of exposure 2004 and final tests coming negative in Dec 2014 .