HIV Testing

[dazed8]

I had a question about the effects of antibiotics on HIV testing. I had a negative 7 week and negative 13 week HIV test. I had been on antibiotics for 7 out of the 13 weeks....first for gonorrhea treatment, and second for treating my prostatitis.

1) Would the fact that I had been taking antibiotics for 7 weeks have any effect on my HIV test? I ask b/c I'm sure it's not usual to be taking antibiotics for that long (but you have to for prostatitis). So I'm not sure if studies have been done.

2) Does anybody know what an HIV 1/o/2 test is?

[RapidRod]

Antibiotics, will not affect the result of your HIV test. What is the name of the test you took?

[Ann]

dazed,

Your test results mean that you are conclusively hiv negative. You do not have hiv.

You need to be using condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, every time, no exceptions until such time as you are in a securely monogamous relationship where you have both tested for ALL STIs together. To agree to have unprotected intercourse is to consent to the possibility of being infected with a sexually transmitted infection. Sex with a condom lasts only a matter of minutes, but hiv is forever.

Have a look through all three condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use condoms with confidence.

Anyone who is sexually active should be having a full sexual health care check-up, including but not limited to hiv testing, at least once a year and more often if unprotected intercourse occurs.

If you aren't already having regular, routine check-ups, now is the time to start. As long as you make sure condoms are being used for intercourse, you can fully expect your routine hiv tests to return with negative results. Don't forget to always get checked for all the other sexually transmitted infections as well, because they are MUCH easier to transmit than hiv.

Ann

[dazed8]

Hi Rapidrod, thanks for answering.

I took my test using tstd.org...not sure if you've heard of them. On their copy of the results, it simply says HIV-1 EIA antibody test. I'm not sure as to what generation it is, but I got tested at Labcorp.

However, on the Labcorp copy of the testing results, it says they used an HIV 1/o/2, which made me conclude I got tested for HIV-2 as well. But thte counselor at Tstd.org said they only tested for HIV-1.

Why do you ask about my type of test? Will it make a difference regarding the validity while on antibiotics?

[Matty the Damned]

Dazed,

As Ann notes, your test results indicate that you are indeed HIV negative. HIV-2 is really only found in parts of Western Africa and in any event the HIV antibody tests used today will usually detect both 1 and 2 even if they're only officially rated for HIV-1.

And that applies to your case. You've received a conclusive HIV negative result.

MtD

[RapidRod]

Are you in the US?

[dazed8]

Hey Rapidrod

Yes, I live in the U.S., but my encounter was in Mexico.

[Andy Velez]

Geography doesn't matter in this case.

You have reliably tested negative. Period. End of story. Really.