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Sir, I had protected sex with a women / sex worker around 37 days back. She was having periods at that time, which I was not aware about. While removing the condom, a drop of blood came on my finger (My condom was not torn or damaged). After around 20 days, I developed a small genital wart on my pence. I immediately went to a dermatologist / STD specialist and told him the entire episode correctly. He told me that it was an HPV virus and the immune system of the body will eventually clear it with passage of time. For the wart I was advised to apply a topical cram "Imiquimod" every alternate day. I was also asked to get a VDRL test. My VDRL test came "Non Reactive" after 21 days of the exposure. However as I was extremely worried about the entire edisode, I decided to get the HIV test done today i.e. after 37 days of exposure. So I got an HIV 1/2 & P24 Combo Test done from . My report has come out to be "Index Value = 0.12" "Result= Non Reactive". My question is, in your opinion how reliable is this report?

PAST HISTORY : Diabetic & High BP

2 Answers

Dr. Vivek Nair answered : 12 years ago

Hello,

Thank you for your question. This report is very reliable provided you had it done at a standard laboratory. Your report is negative and risk of your exposure is very low. Even unprotected sex with an HIV positive partner has a very low rate of transmission (less than 1% in some studies) so just getting a drop of blood on your finger is very low risk exposure, even assuming that the woman was HIV positive.

That said the HIV test needs to be repeated once again 3 months after exposure to be 100% certain of negative HIV status.

Please feel free to ask if you have any queries.

Patient asked followup Question: 12 years ago

I had got the HIV 1/2 & P 24 Combo test done from Lal Path Labs, Delhi. I believe it is a Standard Laboratory. I have read that the window period of this coo test is 28 days / 4 weeks. Is that correct ? I have got this test done 37 days post exposure so the chances of my report being correct are high is that correct? Thanks for your time

Dr. Vivek Nair answered : 12 years ago

Yes that's right - the antibodies can take up to 3 months, sometimes longer, to appear but the p24 antigen assay becomes positive much sooner after exposure. Still no test is fool proof and you should get retested in 8 weeks time - just the HIV 1/2 antibodies will be enough. This is just a precaution to be doubly sure - as it stands you are HIV negative based on your test results.

And yes that is a standard laboratory.

Regards.

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