How often should I get tested for HIV before I can be truly labeled negative?!
Question:
How often should I get tested for HIV before I can be truly labeled negative?
I had a negative HIV test in May 2007 after being raped. I'm dealing with the rape through therapy, but I still get scared about contracting HIV.
How often should I get tested before I can be truly labeled negative? Or is there any real way to tell, because I heard HIV can lay dormant for years before it's detectable?
I know it's best to ask my physician, but it's hard to talk about it sometimes, so thanks for your help in advance.
Answers:
It is very normal to feel anxious after such a horrible experience.
To know that you are truly negative, it is not necessary to do lots of tests - it is not so much how many tests you do, but whether they're done at the right time.
A test done 13 weeks (3 months) after the event is more than 99 per cent reliable. Some people do another test at six months to be that much more certain.
Some answerers have suggested that it can take years for HIV to show up. While it is true that the signs of illness might take years, the signs in the blood are almost always there within 3 months. If you have a negative blood test at 3 months (or 6 months) you won't develop HIV years down the track.