[Question #1524] Clarification on test
93 months ago
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
93 months ago
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It saddens me to see you back again. You continue to connect perceived symptoms to your virtually no risk dalliance. I suspect your problem is not test performance it is your guilt and shame over your behavior. I will provide a single answer regarding your test results. This thread will then be closed later today with no further answers.
All 3rd generation tests for HIV including the INSTI finger stick test are antibody tests which must perform similarly to receive approval to be sold. This is the case in the U,S., the U.K. and throughout most of the world. 3rd generation HIV antibody tests detect about 90% of recent infections at 4 weeks, 95% at 6 weeks and 99+% of infections at 8 weeks. 4th generation combination HIV antigen/antibody tests provide completely reliable, conclusive tests at 4 weeks.
Package insert assessments and the assessments of many governmental organizations are more conservative than is warranted by research studies, in part because they are bound by the original design of their studies (i.e. if they say they will assess HIV infection rates at 12 weeks, that is what they must officially report, even if they had actually detected all infections by 8 weeks) and in part because of a conservative outlook in which they cannot "afford" to be wrong. This leads to unnecessary apprehension in persons such as you.
Finally, I will point out that when perceived symptoms and test results disagree, the test results are almost always the correct answer.
End or response, end of thread. EWH
93 months ago
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