I had a single episode of unprotected vaginal sex with an English girl in her mid twenties. I am a circumcised English male of the same age.
Three weeks after exposure I experienced a sore throat, swollen/tender neck, over-tiredness and a mild fever, this lasted about a week. 27 days after exposure, I couldn't wait for my GUM clinic test so I went and got a same day result DUO test at a private clinic. This came back negative. On day 30, I went to my GUM clinic appointment and had another DUO test which also came back negative, as did all other tests for other STDs.
I am now five weeks post exposure and still experiencing a sore throat and tender neck, and am worried about the validity of my two tests. I've read on the BASHH guidelines that if a DUO is taken during initial infection, when symptoms may be most present, then the test can be negative when it is in fact positive. I've also read that an antibody test during seroconversion may not pick up enough antibodies to return a positive result. I'm therefore very worried.
My questions:
1 - Can I rest easy after my two negative DUO tests at 27 and 30 days?
2 - Have you ever seen a negative DUO at this time frame turn positive at a later date?
3 - Are my symptoms cause for worry? I'm hardly ever ill and the 3 week timing of this has me worried.
4 - I have started seeing someone new and they want to start having sex without condoms (they are std free, recently tested). Is it safe to do so given my results so far?
1 - Can I rest easy after my two negative DUO tests at 27 and 30 days?yes, you are HIV negative
2 - Have you ever seen a negative DUO at this time frame turn positive at a later date?no
3 - Are my symptoms cause for worry? noI'm hardly ever ill and the 3 week timing of this has me worried.
4 - I have started seeing someone new and they want to start having sex without condoms (they are std free, recently tested). Is it safe to do so given my results so far?[COLOR="red"]yes
best regards, Sean
Thanks for your reply, just a little follow up if I may.
I would be able to move on from this after reading your reply had my sore throat, stiff neck and tiredness from day 21 disappeared, but here I am at day 35 and they are still here.
- What are your thoughts on the possibility of DUO giving an incorrect result at the 27 and 30 day time frames considering the symptoms experienced?
- The BASHH guidelines that I believe you have linked to elsewhere on the site also state that a result could be negative during the early phases of infection. I'm just wondering how likely this could be?
- The advice I have been given from the NHS health advisors at my local GUM clinic was the test at 28 days will only pick up 95% of those who are infected. Is this advice in your opinion over-conservative? If so, it's a shame that they give this information as I'm sure it leads to much worry in many individuals such as myself.
- Are the DUO tests different depending on where you get them done, and are some more accurate than others?
- Would it be prudent to take the DUO test again at 3 months even if my 27 and 30 day tests came back negative, or is this not required?
I appreciate you answering my final question previously regarding the safety of starting having sex with my new partner without condoms. Most of my worry here comes from the fact that I wouldn't want to put my new partner at risk, so I'm just trying to do the right thing here and be responsible following my error of judgement early last month. I really appreciate your time and patience in helping us very worried people, you are doing a great job and I really value your time. I understand the thread will be closed following this reply.
- What are your thoughts on the possibility of DUO giving an incorrect result at the 27 and 30 day time frames considering the symptoms experienced? Highly unlikely as a negative test result after 28 days is considered final and fully conclusive. Your sexual encounter was low riks in the first place anyway.
- The BASHH guidelines that I believe you have linked to elsewhere on the site also state that a result could be negative during the early phases of infection. I'm just wondering how likely this could be? That would normally apply to tests performed earlier than 28 days. However the p24 antigen is already detectable after 14 days.
- The advice I have been given from the NHS health advisors at my local GUM clinic was the test at 28 days will only pick up 95% of those who are infected. Is this advice in your opinion over-conservative? If so, it's a shame that they give this information as I'm sure it leads to much worry in many individuals such as myself. I believe those figures to be obsolete. The 4th generation HIV Duo test has an estimated reliability of over 99.89%; bearing in mind that your sexual encounter was low risk, there would be no doubt in the reliability of he negative test result
- Are the DUO tests different depending on where you get them done, and are some more accurate than others? There are different manufacturers, but the reliability of these 4th generation tests is very similar
- Would it be prudent to take the DUO test again at 3 months even if my 27 and 30 day tests came back negative, or is this not required?
No, there is no need for that. The three month window period refers to the 3th generation antibody tests only
Negative duo but still worried
Linear Mode
