Most common HIV tests use blood to detect HIV infection by looking for a person’s antibodies to the HIV virus and is called an ELISA test. A positive antibody ELISA test must be confirmed with another test called Western Blot which looks for antibodies to specific parts of the virus. This Western Blot test is required to confirm the presence of HIV antibodies and infection. The Western Blot is included if your test is positive
Although false negative or false positive results are extremely rare, they may occur if the patient has not yet developed antibodies to HIV or if a mistake was made at the laboratory. When used in combination with the confirmatory Western blot test, ELISA tests are 99.9% accurate.
An antigen/antibody test performed by a laboratory on blood from a vein can usually detect HIV infection 18 to 45 days after an exposure.
Antigen/ antibody tests done with blood from a finger prick kit can take longer to detect HIV (18 to 90 days after an exposure).
If your test is positive for HIV infection you must consult with a physician who treats HIV disease because HIV disease is very treatable today