HIV tests question please?

If someone was feeling what they thought to be the initial hiv infection which started a little more than 2 weeks after a one time unprotected sexual encounter and they took a blood test that came back negative a little more than 3 weeks after possible exposure what are the chances that the test would be able to detect it?

A test will take 6 months the most for it to come up positive. When you are really sick in the beginning of getting infected with it your viral load gets really high so if you are hiv positive the test will show positive. Then you will feel fine so get checked in 6 months to be sure. For the people who said a year, 7 years don't have a clue. Yes it can take many years to get sick and have AIDS but it will still come up positive if you have hiv and you don't feel sick. Look on the CDC website and that will make you feel much better.

Most HIV tests are antibody tests that measure the antibodies your body makes against HIV. It can take some time for the immune system to produce enough antibodies for the antibody test to detect and this time period can vary from person to person. This time period is commonly referred to as the 鈥渨indow period鈥? Most people will develop detectable antibodies within 2 to 8 weeks (the average is 25 days). Even so, there is a chance that some individuals will take longer to develop detectable antibodies. Therefore, if the initial negative HIV test was conducted within the first 3 months after possible exposure, repeat testing should be considered >3 months after the exposure occurred to account for the possibility of a false-negative result. Ninety seven percent will develop antibodies in the first 3 months following the time of their infection. In very rare cases, it can take up to 6 months to develop antibodies to HIV.

Another type of test is an RNA test, which detects the HIV virus directly. The time between HIV infection and RNA detection is 9-11 days. These tests, which are more costly and used less often than antibody tests, are used in some parts of the United States.

The infection may not show up on the test for months. The sensitivity of the tests is all dependent on the ammount of antibodies. 3 weeks after exposure is soon, even for the symptoms to start. I'd get retested in about 6 months.

It's possible but it can take up to three months for it to show up.

You might want to ask a doctor this question. Sorry, I wouldn't trust a simple "yahoo answers" answer for this one. Call a clinic and ask a nurse or doctor.

Not likely, it can develop upto a year later.

AIDS does not show up for almost 7yrs