HIV Test: The Top Ten Questions Answered

Becky Kuhn, M.D., answers the top ten questions about the HIV test and how different HIV tests are used together during HIV testing:
1) How do HIV tests work?
2) What are the window period and false negatives?
3) How long after exposure to HIV does it take for a person to get an HIV positive test result?
4) What's the risk of a false positive on the initial ELISA HIV test?
5) What's the risk of a false positive diagnosis after a Western Blot HIV test?
6) Can I be HIV tested for free?
7) Can I be HIV tested without revealing my name?
8) Do I have to be stuck with a needle to take an HIV test?
9) If I test HIV positive, does that mean I'm going to develop AIDS and die?
10) Why should I get tested for HIV?

She also explains: anonymous HIV testing; confidential, name-based HIV testing; home-based testing for HIV-1; and use of the PCR Test for detection of HIV infection during the window period. There is a 98.5% chance that an "HIV positive" result on an initial ELISA test is correct (and a 1.5% chance that it was a false positive). There is a 99.9996% chance that an "HIV positive" result after an initial ELISA and a confirmatory Western Blot test is correct (and 1 chance in 250,000 that it was a false positive). HIV denialists (people who deny that HIV is the cause of AIDS) often exaggerate the frequency of false positives and ignore the fact that a person must get an "HIV positive" result on BOTH the initial ELISA *and* the confirmatory Western Blot test before the person is given a diagnosis of "HIV positive." If you have taken both an ELISA test and a Western Blot test and your doctor tells you you are HIV positive, believe them!

This video refutes myths and misinformation about the HIV test from videos "Lee Evans Speaks Out About the HIV Tests," "Deconstructing the Myth of AIDS," "AIDS Inc.," "The Other Side of AIDS," and "House of Numbers." It also debunks the claims of HIV denialists like Peter Duesberg, Stefan Lanka, Kary Mullis, Celia Farber, Christine Maggiore, Gary Null, Andrew Maniotis, the Perth Group, Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos, David Rasnick, Valendar Turner, Robin Scovill, Brent Leung, David Crowe, Walter Gilbert, Harvey Bialy, Rebecca Culshaw, Roberto Giraldo, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, and Matthias Rath. Visit http://aidstruth.org/denialism/denialists, http://www.GlobalLifeworks.org and http://AIDSvideos.org to learn more.

This video is freely downloadable from http://www.archive.org/details/TheTopTenQuestionsAboutHivTests . Disabled accessibility: The transcript for this and many other AIDSvideos.org videos can be downloaded from http://aidsvideos.org/translate.shtml . [Do you want to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS? Are you fluent in a language other than English? Then volunteer to translate this video into another language! Click http://AIDSvideos.org/translate.shtml to learn how you can help!!! © Copyright 2008-2011 Global Lifeworks. All rights reserved. This work is licensed to be used for non-commercial purposes under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/.]

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[TheKmanOfSmash]

Why is it a negative thing to have antibodies for a foreign pathogen such as HIV? Aren't antibodies supposed to be a sign of an active immune system? Based on the criteria for the test, common sense would tell me that the more at-risk people for disease are the ones that fail the HIV test (HIV-negative, meaning that they have no antibodies to the disease). Isn't this the reason as to why we get vaccines?

[AIDSvideos]

@TheKmanOfSmash: Learn more. Having antibodies to a virus doesn't mean that you are immune to the virus in the case of every virus. People with herpes have antibodies to herpes virus, but the virus is still inside them and they still may get outbreaks. People with HIV have antibodies to HIV, but the virus is still inside their nuclear DNA and circulating in their bloodstream. The presence of antibodies in the blood to a virus does not guarantee immunity in the case of every virus.

[muqadarsingh69]

hi there, i m muqadar and i get my results hiv negative after 3 months, 6 and 8 months after having unprotected sex, doctors said u are negative and not need any furthur testing, they found hepatitis b and uritheritis in my samples, but why there are symptoms of hiv like purple bloches and red dots in my mouth exists? is purple and red dots is only the sign of hiv ?

i also have tonsillitis, is the problem of tonsillitis can also give red and purple dots in mouth? should i go for furthur test ?

[AIDSvideos]

@muqadarsingh69: This is Eric; I'm not a doctor; I can't diagnose anything. Ask your doctor about your symptoms. Purple and red dots in your mouth could mean various things. Ask your doctor. You might ask whether you should be tested for syphilis, for example.

[bornthiswaylouislove]

hey doctore went to a hospital and i did the hiv test and i was negative and they took blood from me like a lot not just littel so what can of blood test was that ? is it the pcr .. please let me know i am really scred and i need help am never having sex agian

[AIDSvideos]

@bornthiswaylouislove: This is Eric; I'm not a doctor. I can't tell you what test they performed. *Usually* an ELISA test is used for initial HIV screening. Ask your doctor what test they did and whether you need a follow-up test later. In the meantime, don't panic. You say your test returned HIV-, which is good news!

[rayethon]

Thank you, very interesting doctor.

[AIDSvideos]

@mymegrg1: This is Eric; I'm not a doctor. Glad your test returned negative. I'm not sure what you read online. The data in this video was all believed to be accurate at the time we wrote the script and filmed it. Normally, ELISA is used for initial screening, not PCR. I don't know data on PCR accuracy and false positive/false negative rates for it when used for initial screening. Talk to your doctor and get their advice for any further screening.

[mymegrg1]

hello Eric, i have taken pcr test after 13 days from possible exposer, result came out negative. i read few articles online which say one has to wait at least 2-3 weeks before taking pcr test. i just want to know how accurate is this result after 13 days. this video says 9-11 days are sufficient for virus to multiply which can be detected?

thank you Eric

[AIDSvideos]

@thepotatovagina: First test (ELISA) can often give you result within 15 minutes on-site. I believe that processing the Western Blog (second test) takes a while longer.