What if I don’t have any antibodies?
It’s been 5 months since I stupidly had sex without protection with another man who has HIV.
Since then I have all the symptoms associated with HIV but tested negative so my question is what are the chances that my body has not produced antibodies to HIV and I am actually HIV positive? Please help
Gary Carpenter, BioSure (UK) Limited
Work on 04th June 2018
Hi WorriedMan
Thanks for getting in touch with BioSure.
In your case I think that I can give you a very definitive answer: the symptoms of HIV that you describe would be a direct consequence of your bodies internal process of creating antibodies to HIV. You cannot have these symptoms if you have not created them. So, if you were HIV positive and had the symptoms then you would test positive for HIV.
I hope that this answers your question.
Kind regards
Gary Carpenter
BioSure (UK) Limited
Francesca Bard, BioSure (UK) Ltd
Work on 04th June 2018
Hello Worried Man. Our test will pick up antibodies from exposure 3 months ago, this is known as the window period. As with virtually all HIV rapid tests, the BioSURE HIV Self Test looks for antibodies to HIV, rather than the virus itself. If a person has produced antibodies then the test will detect them, but because of how immune systems work, people produce these at different times and rates after being contracting the virus. Most people have made these antibodies by 4 weeks but some people can produce them as late as 12 weeks later, by this stage 99.9% of people have produced these. This is why we say a negative result cannot be relied upon within this period and it is recommended to test again at 3 months after exposure. I hope this helps. Kindest regards, Francesca Bard, BioSure (UK) Ltd