Question

Is there a conclusive day for a hiv test result to be accurate?

1 September 2010. Related: All topics, HIV testing.

Is there a conclusive day for a hiv test result to be accurate? How can you get a false negative or positive?

Answer

Answer: Charlotte Walker

Thank you for your question.

Different tests have different times at which they are conclusive. Antibody tests are usually accurate between 6-12 weeks with the 12 week mark making it ‘conclusive’ (although a positive result would be detected in most 95% people after 28 days).

The fourth generation antibody and antigen tests will detect 95% of infections at 28 days and are conclusive after 90 days.

For information please follow this link.

To answer the false negative and false positive question please read our factsheet on transmission and testing.