Apollo Network
AIDS Found long after Initial Testing
Posted by Ellar, MD
Tuesday, August 26th 2008 @ 02:19:26 PM EST

Hello Doctor I am confused by recent article in (PGN) Philadelphia Gay News, August 8, 2008. The article starts on page 9, (The high cost of AIDS) where it discusses not only the cost but also men who test regularly with negative results only to find they have advanced AIDS when they are first identified with high viral load building and T-Cells dropping? How can you have advancing AIDS and be testing negative for HIV? Thanks, Paul

Hi Paul, it is rare to have false negative tests for HIV, defined as negative tests in the presence of true disease. The tests for Aids are antibody tests to the HIV virus and have a lag in detectability from 1.5 to 3 months and this may be as long as 6 months in some individuals. A series of monthly tests in the early stages would not reflect the reality of the situation.

In very advanced stages of disease the body can fail to mount an immunological response and could theoretically test negative though there is a high viral load and low and dropping T-cell count.

The important thing is that this there is a window of positive disease when antibodies are undetectable early in infection. This can last for as long as 6 months and is a period of maximum infectivity when a partner is at great risk from unsafe sexual activity. Ellar MD

Copyright 1997-2023 Apolloworld LLC