HIV test with less time lag?

[steven1984]

Dear premed101'ers:

 

The HIV test that I know (and had done to myself) cannot tell me if I had contracted the virus within the past 3 months. Are there any HIV test that can tell me if I had contracted the HIV virus within the past week or so?

 

Thanks,

 

steven1984

[steven1984]

Oh, BTW, the test does not need to be covered by OHIP or anything. I can pay for it on my own.

[jellybean]

I don't know of any HIV testing that can be done that early. If you're worried that you might have become infected you should probably talk to your doctor about post-exposure HIV prophylaxis treatment as soon as possible.

[Averance]

I agree with the above post. Truly if you are worried you should talk to someone (your family GP) about it.

 

To answer your question though, Rapid HIV point of care testing does exist, and is generally accepted to be as specific/sensitive as the ELISA in the traditional means. It's currently in the US (and you can order it online! yikes!) However, this is not available in Canada except at select centres and for select cases where immediate intervention has a marked benefit (e.g. HIV in pregnancy for the child). The reason why it's not accepted in Canada (at least to my knowledge) is that there has to be adequate support services available.

[leviathan]

Just a minor correction, HIV tests can detect infection before 3 months, it's just that 100% of infected samples will not be positive before that time. Any further discussions beyond this I think are treading into the territory of giving medical advice, which is not something anyone can ethically do for you over the Internet. You should see your GP for more info. Hope you are doing OK.

[igeorgex]

6 weeks is the earliest that the rapid response HIV test will be able to detect antibodies, and most people will have produced them by then. However, it is safest to have this test done 3 months post exposure as that will be a very sensitive test by then. Honestly, the prophylaxis will not make a difference if you take it now vs 3 months unless you have very strong proof to believe you have the disease (blood transfer with a known HIV positive person) and is very $$. Wait til the 3 months and take the test. I know this must be a very worrying and scary part of your life right now, and talking to a doctor would still be advisable.

[A-Stark]

Well, true that other tests exist, but they won't be positive until there is seroconversion. Which typically occurs by three months post-exposure.

[bloh]

PCR test. 10char

[steven1984]

Thank you all for your helpful suggestions.

[vweb]

HIV is virus infection. It should mean HIV cannot spread unless the Virus IS present, during the sexual intercourse. So, if i verify, before having sex for the first time, that my partner and I have no infectious STD, Will it be safe to do it without ANY protection at all? I know my partner and me are both totally faithful to each other..

[steven1984]

Thanks vweb for your suggestions. Unfortunately your situation did not apply to me, I had sex with someone I just met on that day.

[bloh]

HIV is virus infection. It should mean HIV cannot spread unless the Virus IS present, during the sexual intercourse. So, if i verify, before having sex for the first time, that my partner and I have no infectious STD, Will it be safe to do it without ANY protection at all? I know my partner and me are both totally faithful to each other..

 

haha

 

Sorry sweetie, both most people over the course of their life cheat on their partner at some point.

[steven1984]

I am pretty sure that my parents never cheated on each other. But as Bloh pointed out, nowadays it's pretty rare for people to stay faithful to one partner throughout their entire life. People prefer variety, after all.

[JB.]

Oh dear... just use protection when you have sex. Better safe than sorry.

[aaronjw]

Oh dear... just use protection when you have sex. Better safe than sorry.

 

Gee where's the fun in that? Lol.

[McMarauder]

Oh dear... just use protection when you have sex. Better safe than sorry.

 

a bit too late for comments like that.

[Curi0user]

I am pretty sure that my parents never cheated on each other. But as Bloh pointed out, nowadays it's pretty rare for people to stay faithful to one partner throughout their entire life. People prefer variety, after all.

 

Don't be so naive, this is your life we're talking about. It's cute to put your faith in someone but it's not like the majority of people who get cheated on saw it coming.

Be safe. All the time.

[Curi0user]

a bit too late for comments like that.

 

not necessarily. And others could learn from a thread like this, lol

[The Law]

not necessarily. And others could learn from a thread like this, lol

 

I think it's counter productive to say a comment like that after the fact, especially when you're dealing with someone who is obviously worried about it.

 

To the OP - I highly suggest you go to a sexual health clinic to find out what testing is available to you. The public health department of the city you are living in should be able to provide you with advice/support, as would a GP. From what I have read, using a traditional ELISA or rapid test, the vast majority of people will likely have seroconverted by 6 weeks. There are other tests that may be available to you that may be able to offer you some reassurance. Your best bet for learning about the testing available would be a physician. I believe some of these other tests look for HIV RNA by using a PCR and can detect the virus as soon as within 2 weeks of infection (don't quote me on this though, not as familliar with this form of testing).

 

Again, I'm not a physician nor would it be appropriate to give you direct medical advice over the internet - go see a doctor or sexual health clinic. Hope you're doing okay.

[RapidHawk]

Oh dear... just use protection when you have sex. Better safe than sorry.

 

Such a typical premed answer. This, kids, is why you don't take sex advice from someone who a) hasn't gotten laid in months and/or is a public health advocate (or claims to be).

 

Condoms make sex less fun. The fact is that if you are a heterosexual male having a one night stand with a woman who is not an IV drug user, your chance of catching HIV from that encounter is approximately one in five million. If you aren't having sex with a black or hispanic woman, the odds drop to about 1 in 40 million. There is no reason to be using condoms if your partner has tested negative for HIV and is on the pill.

 

As for the guy who said your partner could cheat on you, get HIV, then pass it on to you. You have a better chance of being killed by lightning than you do of being killed by AIDS in this manner.

 

OP, unless you've been railing men up the ass/getting railed up the ass, you're probably overreacting. The fact is that HIV/AIDS is for the most part, a gay man's disease that takes out a heroin user every so often.

[Curi0user]

I think it's counter productive to say a comment like that after the fact, especially when you're dealing with someone who is obviously worried about it.

 

I personally dont know anyone with HIV or anyones friends of friends with it so this thread actually kind of got me thinking. Maybe others are as well. So not really.

[medigeek]

Such a typical premed answer. This, kids, is why you don't take sex advice from someone who a) hasn't gotten laid in months and/or is a public health advocate (or claims to be).

 

Condoms make sex less fun. The fact is that if you are a heterosexual male having a one night stand with a woman who is not an IV drug user, your chance of catching HIV from that encounter is approximately one in five million. If you aren't having sex with a black or hispanic woman, the odds drop to about 1 in 40 million. There is no reason to be using condoms if your partner has tested negative for HIV and is on the pill.

 

As for the guy who said your partner could cheat on you, get HIV, then pass it on to you. You have a better chance of being killed by lightning than you do of being killed by AIDS in this manner.

 

OP, unless you've been railing men up the ass/getting railed up the ass, you're probably overreacting. The fact is that HIV/AIDS is for the most part, a gay man's disease that takes out a heroin user every so often.

 

Your statistics are WAY off, but your point in that it is pretty rare is correct. The black/hispanic thing applies mainly in the US and not in Canada. And theres plenty of straight, non drug user dudes who got hiv from a chick who also wasnt a drug user.

 

If youre gonna rail sluts, wear a rubber. And just remember theres lot of other stds that can bit you in the ass.

[The Law]

Such a typical premed answer. This, kids, is why you don't take sex advice from someone who a) hasn't gotten laid in months and/or is a public health advocate (or claims to be).

 

Condoms make sex less fun. The fact is that if you are a heterosexual male having a one night stand with a woman who is not an IV drug user, your chance of catching HIV from that encounter is approximately one in five million. If you aren't having sex with a black or hispanic woman, the odds drop to about 1 in 40 million. There is no reason to be using condoms if your partner has tested negative for HIV and is on the pill.

 

As for the guy who said your partner could cheat on you, get HIV, then pass it on to you. You have a better chance of being killed by lightning than you do of being killed by AIDS in this manner.

 

OP, unless you've been railing men up the ass/getting railed up the ass, you're probably overreacting. The fact is that HIV/AIDS is for the most part, a gay man's disease that takes out a heroin user every so often.

 

I don't agree with your stance. Yes, the rate of HIV among heterosexuals is lower in North America, but there is still a real risk of contracting it. I highly suggest you look up some statistics regarding the matter.

[RapidHawk]

Your statistics are WAY off, but your point in that it is pretty rare is correct.

 

No, my statistics are fairly accurate. Here's a quick reference I found on google for it:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/HIV-Prevention/One-Night-Stand---Chances-of-Exposure-Risks/show/548350

 

The black/hispanic thing applies mainly in the US and not in Canada.

Source? According to Wikipedia, blacks in the US make up 48% of all HIV cases, and I have not seen any data elsewhere to suggest that the situation would be any different in Canada. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS_pandemic

 

And theres plenty of straight, non drug user dudes who got hiv from a chick who also wasnt a drug user.

Results of an AIDS prevalence study:

 

The heterosexual contact cases are subdivided into the following categories, shown with cases reported through December 31, 1992:

 

Sex with IV drug user 8,481 (64%)

 

Sex with bisexual male 823 ( 6%)

 

Sex with person with hemophilia 131 ( 1%)

 

Sex with person born in Pattern II country 205 ( 2%)

 

Sex with transfusion recipient with HIV infection 311 (2%)

 

Sex with HIV-infected person, risk not specified 3,341 (25%)

 

Out of the 300K people in the US living with AIDS (at the time of this study), only about 1% of them got AIDS from heterosexual intercourse with a non-bisexual, non-drug using person. Yes, straight guys can get AIDS, but only 3000 people of them seem to have caught it (at the time of this study). Considering that sex happens thousands of times every day, the chances of catching AIDS being 1 in 5 million from a random one night stand doesn't seem too far off.

 

 

If youre gonna rail sluts, wear a rubber. And just remember theres lot of other stds that can bit you in the ass.

Yes but the other ones are a mere inconvience, not worth making your sex life less fun over. I personally never use a condom unless the woman demands it (which has only happened once out of the 10+ women I've slept with). Even if I did get an STD, it would simply be a matter of taking my meds to get rid of it.

 

The whole heterosexual AIDS thing is really just a fear myth. A myth meant to divert more money towards the pro-gay lobby.

[medigeek]

No, my statistics are fairly accurate. Here's a quick reference I found on google for it:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/HIV-Prevention/One-Night-Stand---Chances-of-Exposure-Risks/show/548350

 

 

Source? According to Wikipedia, blacks in the US make up 48% of all HIV cases, and I have not seen any data elsewhere to suggest that the situation would be any different in Canada. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS_pandemic

 

 

Results of an AIDS prevalence study:

 

 

 

Out of the 300K people in the US living with AIDS (at the time of this study), only about 1% of them got AIDS from heterosexual intercourse with a non-bisexual, non-drug using person. Yes, straight guys can get AIDS, but only 3000 people of them seem to have caught it (at the time of this study). Considering that sex happens thousands of times every day, the chances of catching AIDS being 1 in 5 million from a random one night stand doesn't seem too far off.

 

 

 

Yes but the other ones are a mere inconvience, not worth making your sex life less fun over. I personally never use a condom unless the woman demands it (which has only happened once out of the 10+ women I've slept with). Even if I did get an STD, it would simply be a matter of taking my meds to get rid of it.

 

The whole heterosexual AIDS thing is really just a fear myth. A myth meant to divert more money towards the pro-gay lobby.

 

Your statistics have so many problems, I wouldnt even know where to begin.

 

You're grouping worldwide statistics together and claiming blacks/hispanics would make up close to a majority of hiv positive people at any location when that's obviously false.

 

You can't even group two cities together (which are beside each other), let alone a country and the world! Salt Lake City has a VERY low HIV rate while Washington DC has a very high rate. You think you have equals odds of catching HIV in those places???

 

Let's look specifically at Ontario...

 

http://www.actoronto.org/home.nsf/pages/hivaidsstatsont

 

To Date (1985-2008)

 

Men have accounted for 84.6% of all positive HIV test reports in Ontario.

Women have accounted for 15.4% of all positive HIV test reports.

 

Mode of HIV Transmission in Ontario 1985 - 2008

Gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) 64.5%

Injection Drug Users (IDU) 7.6%

Heterosexual contact 11.1%

People from countries where HIV is endemic 12.5%

 

So that's since the beginning of the whole HIV thing... and now specifically 2008...

Mode of HIV Transmission in Ontario in 2008:

Gay and bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM) - 47.3%.

Injection Drug Users (IDU) - 6.7%

Heterosexual contact - 20.5%

People from countries with high rates of HIV infection - 22.9%

Women - 25%

 

As you can see, 20.5% of all HIV cases where from heterosexual contact in 2008, while the average from 1985 until 2008 was well below... Wanna bet in 2011 that 20.5% is even higher?

 

Oh ya and to put the black/hispanic myth to rest for Canada...

 

http://www.avert.org/canada-aids.htm

 

Blacks arent even remotely close to whites when looking at the number of positive cases. Whites are a large majority.

 

 

And as for transmission risks, well you arent factoring in things like...

 

When the person caught it (higher viral load during initial phase = higher risk of passing it along)

 

If the person is taking meds

 

If the person knows or not

 

How long you have sex for

 

etc etc

 

 

 

Good luck with your std acquiring goals in 2011-2012.

 

 

EDIT: I just noticed your study is from 1992. lolzzz. At that time HIV hadnt even spread enough to women to be of a major concern to men. Times change bud, I mean it's only been like 19 years?