HIV Screening Test

Recently Answered

• QHow do over-the-counter HIV tests work?

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  A HealthyWomen answered

  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a few over-the-counter (OTC) human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) tests that are available in many drugstores and can be performed in your home. One of these tests, OraQuick, uses saliva.
  
  Other OTC HIV tests use blood obtained with a lancet and placed on a filter strip. The sample is mailed in a protected envelope using an anonymous code. You receive test results by making a toll-free call. If the result is negative, you will hear a prerecorded message; if it is positive, you will receive counseling and be referred to a healthcare professional.
• QHow can I still have HIV even if my HIV test is negative?

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  A HealthyWomen answered

  No matter which type of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibody test you take, if it is negative, you are either uninfected or in the early stages of infection before your body produces HIV antibodies.
  
  It can take up to six months -- longer, in rare cases -- for the body to produce detectable amounts of HIV antibodies. This early period is called seroconversion. Some refer to this time as the "window period" since it offers a window of opportunity for people to unknowingly infect others.
  
  In some cases, an HIV antibody test result is indeterminate or equivocal, meaning HIV antibodies have not yet fully developed. If an indeterminate reading continues for six months or longer, you are considered uninfected.