I was at a bachelor party about 10 weeks ago. A woman performed oral sex and then put on a condom and we had vaginal sex. My anxiety got bad so at week 5 from the encounter, during my physical, i had an STD panel done including a 4 gen hiv test (blood from vein). It came back negative. I then waited until after the window period and tested at 8 weeks gen 4 hiv (from vein). All std tests came back negative. I recently read about biotin and the effects on the HIV test. I take Athletic Greens which has 330 mcg (0.33 mg) of biotin. Is this enough to affect the results? Also it has other b vitamins. Thiamin (b1) 3mg, Riboflavin (b2) 2mg, b6 3mg. Do any other B vitamins effect the test, or is it only Biotin? Would you consider these results conclusive or should i test again? 

The internet buzz about biotin and HIV testing is mostly an urban myth. The doses used in typical conditioning regimens or various vitamin products are not nearly large enough to have any effect at all. Your negative tests are definitely reliable and conclusive. And for anyone who remains nervous about any potential interference, all they need do is not take biotin for a few days before testing; it is cleared from the blood quite rapidly. I am unaware of any data suggesting any other vitamins (B group or others) have any effect on test reliability.

In any case, you weren't at risk for HIV anyway. In the US and most other industrialized countries, the chance any particular sexually active woman has HIV is no higher than one chance in a thousand. And condoms work -- and even without condom protection, there has never been a scientifically proved case of HIV transmitted oral to penis. Had you asked before being tested for HIV, I would have advised it wasn't necessary. 

I hope these comments are helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.

HHH, MD

Thanks for the help. 

5 weeks

HIV 1 2 ag/ab by CMIA -neg

Syphlis- neg

Herpes- neg

Hep A,B,C - neg

Clamydia / gonorrehea (urine and blood) - neg

Week 8

Same tests all negative

Please advise if conclusive (or do i need to retest for HIV at 12 weeks as seen on other sites) and you can close this out. Thank you.

Blood tests for gonorrhea and chlamydia are useless but the urine tests are valid. Herpes blood tests are very poor, never recommended to check for infection after a single exposure, and anyway take up to 3 months to turn positive. The other blood tests are accurate and the negative results conclusive.

All is well. Don't repeat the herpes blood test; in absence of symptoms, you can be sure you didn't catch HSV.

As you expected, that concludes this thread. I hope the discussion has been helpful.