Question
Can I get a reliable test 7 days after exposure?
30 July 2010. Related: All topics, HIV testing, HIV transmission.
I went to get tested at a NHS hospital in Birmingham, I am so scared that they have infected me there. Either through discarded needles or carrying blood samples through the rooms.
Now I might be a little crazy but I will be getting tested to make sure I’m ok from this incident, and if not I want to take further action. Can you advice me if I have the right to ask any questions, surly the NHS have standards to meet?
I would like to know firstly where I can get a reliable test done, I read there are some you can have after 7 days? if so where? If the hospital thought I was going to take it further would they not be able to perform the test?
Secondly if I have a HIV DUO test done at 3 weeks – then 5 weeks will this be reliable enough for me to move on? I don’t know what the chances are from getting anything from a discarded needle or in fact walking past with blood samples if loose?
I would greatly appreciate any advice –
Answer
Thank you for your question.
You cannot get HIV from the needles in a NHS hospital or from people carrying infected blood through the room. You cannot take legal action against the NHS for this as, from what you describe, they have nothing to put you at risk of infection. For more information on how HIV is transmitted please follow this link.
If you have two DUO tests at 3 and 5 weeks this is good news as they would detect more than 95% of infections. UK guideline (BASHH) recommend that this needs to be confirmed by a another test at 90 days after the exposure.
For more information about testing please follow this link