HIV Detection?!
Question: I know you should have protected sex and all that. In fact I haven't even wanted sex and have abstained from it, but back in highschool I was raped and I know it's possible for HIV to take up to 10 years to show up, which is horrifying. Do you know if there has to be a specific test for HIV, or would it be apparent if someone had a full blood work done? I recently had an entire blood panel done where they measured white blood count, etc. I'm planning on getting a test specifically for HIV, but I'm curious if it would be obvious in the blood work I just had done? I have to wait until Thursday to ask for the test, so I'd love any sort of peace of mind I can get.
Answers: I know you should have protected sex and all that. In fact I haven't even wanted sex and have abstained from it, but back in highschool I was raped and I know it's possible for HIV to take up to 10 years to show up, which is horrifying. Do you know if there has to be a specific test for HIV, or would it be apparent if someone had a full blood work done? I recently had an entire blood panel done where they measured white blood count, etc. I'm planning on getting a test specifically for HIV, but I'm curious if it would be obvious in the blood work I just had done? I have to wait until Thursday to ask for the test, so I'd love any sort of peace of mind I can get.
HIV would not show up in the blood panel. (However, if you had AIDS you would find that you may have a low white blood cell count... however, low white cell counts may also indicate other things that are not HIV.)
To know if you have HIV you need an antibody test that tests specifically for HIV.
It does NOT take up to 10 years for HIV to show up. Most people who test HIV+ do so within 3 months from exposure, the remainder of people who are infected will test positive within 6 months.
I think you confused the fact that left untreated, there is the possiblility that a person with HIV may not have any symptoms sometimes for up to ten years after they are infected. However, if the same had taken a HIV test it would have shown they were positive within 6 months of the exposure.
Unless you use IV drugs, from what you describe you are at a very low risk for testing HIV+ (provided you have been abstinent since your last test). Your last test would be considered a valid result... if you had been infected it would have showed up by the time you got tested.
However, if you haven't already done so you should get counseling to help you cope with the rape. This may also help alleviate your fears that you have HIV. (Also, PTSD and depression can cause stress on the immune system, causing you to get sick more often.)
No, it will not show up in the blood work just done, you must specifically request an HIV test, I used to work in a lab and I know this for a fact. HIV can be detected by blood test within 3-6 months of infection. It can take up to 10 years or longer for the symptoms to manifest but it can be detected in the blood in just a few months.
If you have been tested previously and you are worried about an incident that happened years ago then you are in the clear, don't even sweat it. I promise you I know with 100% certainty you WILL test positive for HIV in 6 months after infection if you have it, like I said, the symptoms take 10 years to present, the infection doesn't.
If you were tested for STDs and HIV a year after the rape the good news is you were not infected. HIV would show up with in three months after being infected. It is true that if some one is infected and do not test it could take 10-12 years for an illness that would point to a HIV infection, but ONLY if never tested.
So don't worry, your test a years after the rape shows that you are not infected. Good Luck!