Diagnosis of HIV

Health care providers can tell if you have HIV by testing your blood to see if you have antibodies (disease-fighting agents) to HIV in your blood. You can't tell if you have HIV antibodies in your blood until 1 to 3 months AFTER you become infected. And, some people can take as long as 6 months to develop antibodies to HIV in their blood. If you think you have been exposed to HIV, it is best to get tested as soon as possible. But, keep in mind that you may have to get another test or have your test repeated in 6 months, to be sure that you have accurate results. Talk to your health care provider about testing and be sure to have counseling before and after you are tested. Counseling will help you to get the treatment you need if you are HIV positive and will help you to learn how to not pass the infection to others. If you are HIV negative, counseling will help you to stay negative by teaching you what you can do to protect yourself.

The test used for HIV is called an ELISA test. If the ELISA test is positive, it is always followed with a second test to confirm the result. This is called a Western Blot test.