I have a question about something that happened a while ago. I am in a long term committed relationship for almost 1.5 years now (she might be the one). Last November, I was at a party and ended up deep kissing another girl multiple times throughout the night (too much alcohol). 

The next day, oh boy what a headache. I know deep kissing is no risk, bu then again anything is possible and also being OCD about HIV and feeling guilty, I took a combo test at 98 days after the ‘exposure’,  so a bit more than 3 months, just to give my OCD no room to play. It came back NREAC, so negative.

I recently read on the forum dr Handsfield saying that you experts never look solely at the test results but also at the type of exposure, other circumstances or factors, etc. 

I think I missunderstood what he meant by it, but that coupled me reading about the combo test being  ‘only’  99.5% sensitive or something, am wondering if it was 100% conclusive for me, given the exposure I had. I guess I just need some reassurance that I am conclusively negative, without a shadow of doubt (this damn OCD).

So in a nutshell, I (again the damn whiskey) deep kissed another girl multiple times, tested with the combo hiv test at 98 days, no antigen or anitbodies present.

Is it 100% conclusive, no retesting needed?

Thanks for all the patience you have with us worriers.

No worries at all here:  there is no chance you have HIV. It's true that when testing for HIV on account of any one exposure, we usually recommend interpreting HIV test results in the context of the level of risk at the time. But almost always that's because people ask about recent exposure, when test results are not conclusive. The modern HIV antigen-antibody or AgAb tests ("combo", "duo", "4th generation") are 100% conclusive any time 6 weeks or more after the last possible exposure, not "only" 99.5%. To my knowlege, there have been no reports at all of someone having negative AgAb test results beyond 6 weeks who in fact had acquired HIV. (With the uncommon exception of people who took anti-HIV drugs for post-exposure prophylaxis that didn't work, which can prolong the window to conclusive results.)

Further, there has never been a reported, scientifically confirmed case of HIV transmitted by kissing, no matter how deep or prolonged. That's not to say it can't happen, but it has to be exceedingly rare. And on top of all that, HIV is very rare in the vast majority of even the most sexually active women, to the chance your kissing partner had HIV is very low.

So to cut to the chase, i.e. your closing question:  Your negative AgAb test result at 98 days is 100% conclusive. There is ohance you have HIV, assuming no more recent exposure you havem't mentioned.

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

HHH, MD

So maybe the 99.5% estimate included the people that would test within the window period?  I found this in the link below:

The National Safety Council esimates that the chance any particular American citizen will die of an accident (auto wrecks, falls, drowning, firres, etc, etc) is 1 in 1,766 each year. That means the chance you'll be dead of an accident in the next 12 months is 125,000 times higher than the possibility you have HIV. So my advice is to forget HIV -- but don't forget your seatbelt!

HIV2 also is conclusve at 6 weeks, and certainly by 8 weeks, with the AgAb tests.

You correctly understand how to avoid HIV. All other theoretical risks are too low to worry about. As for kissing, there has never been a scientifically proved case of HIV being transmitted oral to genital, by either fellatio or cunnilingus.

My last bit of advice is to stop searching any of this on the internet. Like many anxious persons and those with OCD, you're finding and focusing on selected information that reinforces your fears and missing the reassuring bits. It isn't worth it! (Perhaps you've heard of Nate Silver, the statistician who became famous for his accurate political and sports predictions (see www.fivethirtyeight.com). He wrote a book, The Signal and the Noise. An approximate quote from that book:  "Give an anxious person a computer with an internet connection in a dark room, and soon he'll think his cold is the bubonic plague.")

The antibody portion of the AgAb tests are conclusive on their own (along with the "3rd generation" HIV tests) by 6-8 weeks. There is no intended difference between my various descriptions of conclusive. At 98 days, your tests prove for sure you have niether HIV1 nor HIV2. Suck it up and stop worrying about it.

Two follow-up questions and replies conclude this thread. I hope the discussion has been helpful.