Preliminary Positive

[Van3133]

Well a friend and I were getting coffee when we see one of those vans that does mobile hiv testing. We decide to get tested.

Well it turns out that mine came back reactive. The first test was oraquick swab test. They then prick my finger put the blood on a stick in some solution or something and say it confirms.

I must admit Im shocked. Ive only done fellatio unprotected. Every time Ive had intercourse it was always with a condom. Always. I just wrote a sex ed curriculum and from what I understand there is little to no risk of getting HIV from oral sex...which is confusing me.

This all happened saturday around midnight. Now I feel sicker than I did before. A very emotional time. It was weird because before I got tested I was telling my friend how Black Men are more prone to test a false positive.

Just hoping for the best.

[Ann]

Van,

Various things can cause false positive results on rapid tests, including pregnancy and underlying (and often as-of-yet undiagnosed) autoimmune diseases, and sometimes they just happen.

Before you freak out too much or get yourself too worked up, you need to go to a proper clinic (as opposed to a mobile testing unit) and get retested. Should that test also return positive, then you need to have that confirmed - or ruled out - with a Western Blot test.

You cannot be considered to be hiv positive until you've had any antibody test confirmed with Western Blot testing. There are no short-cuts to hiv testing.

Giving what you've told us, it sounds like you are very likely dealing with a false positive result. Get an appointment tomorrow to have further testing done.

You can find a testing center near you by putting your zip code into POZ.com's Health Services Directory.

Good luck.

Ann

[Van3133]

Van,

Various things can cause false positive results on rapid tests, including pregnancy and underlying (and often as-of-yet undiagnosed) autoimmune diseases, and sometimes they just happen.

Before you freak out too much or get yourself too worked up, you need to go to a proper clinic (as opposed to a mobile testing unit) and get retested. Should that test also return positive, then you need to have that confirmed - or ruled out - with a Western Blot test.

You cannot be considered to be hiv positive until you've had any antibody test confirmed with Western Blot testing. There are no short-cuts to hiv testing.

Giving what you've told us, it sounds like you are very likely dealing with a false positive result. Get an appointment tomorrow to have further testing done.

You can find a testing center near you by putting your zip code into POZ.com's Health Services Directory.

Good luck.

Ann

Thank you so much. I was, and still am, a little confused. I thought the blood prick after was a confirmative test.

[Ann]

Van,

No. The Western Blot confirmatory test is not a rapid, finger-prick test. It involves a real blood draw (as opposed to a finger prick) where a whole vial of blood is taken and sent to a laboratory. The results can take anywhere from a day to two weeks to return, depending on the lab.

As I said, there are NO short cuts to hiv testing, whether you're dealing with a positive result or a negative result.

I say there are also no short cuts to testing when dealing with a negative result is because of the testing window period.

The vast majority of people who have actually been infected will seroconvert and test positive by six weeks, with the average time to seroconversion being only 22 days.

A six week negative result is highly unlikely to change, but MUST be confirmed at the three month point past any risky activity.

You seriously need to go to a proper testing center and get the correct confirmatory tests. Until such time as this has been done, you cannot assume you are positive - but neither can you assume you're negative. Get this done at the earliest possible opportunity.

Ann