What Does Negative HIV ELISA Test Post Unprotected Sex Indicate?

Posted on Sun, 16 Nov 2014

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 16 Nov 2014 Answered on

Wed, 10 Dec 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : I had a condom slippage exposure and i did HIV elisa test in 6 weeks and 10 weeks both were negative .Could you please tell me what are the chances of changing my results when i do my 13th week test

Answered by Dr. Shoaib Khan (3 hours later)

Brief Answer:
ELISA results cannot be predicted accurately yet

Detailed Answer:
Hello sir and welcome.

Thank you for writing to us.

I have gone through your query with diligence and would like you to know that I am here to help. Investigations like HIV ELISA provide most accurate results at 3 months, 6 months and 9 months (approximately); and so we cannot be sure until the test is conducted at 6-9 months since the exposure to HIV.

In my opinion, a more accurate and earlier investigation would be the HIV DUO test that can be used to test HIV 28 days since the suspected exposure to HIV. This test is 98.9 % accurate, and gets more and more accurate with passing time. Please discuss this option with your doctor as well.

I hope you find my response both helpful and informative. Please feel free to write back to me for any further clarifications, I would be more than happy to help you.

Best wishes sir.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar