Question
Could my HIV positive test result be caused by EBV infection?
27 April 2011. Related: HIV testing, HIV transmission, Newly diagnosed.
I have recently been diagnosed with HIV and my doctor suspects that I contracted the virus over 7 years ago by looking at my blood test results over the years (low platlets, enlarged lymph nodes, low neutrophils and other ‘clues’ as she calls them) – this coincided with a diagnosis of glandular fever 7 years ago, or what the virologist suspected at the time.
My question is this: can this diagnosis of HIV actually still be the EBV virus? In other words, can the presence of the EBV virus – which I understand to be present in your immune system for life – actually be giving a false positive HIV reaction? Can there be any cross reference here? Also, the viral load (20k) shown in my HIV results can that actually be a viral load of the EBV virus? I understand that the EBV virus can cause many of the same symptoms and issues as HIV and indeed can be reactivated at any time in life.
I read somewhere that the only true way to know if you have HIV is to isolate the virus itself rather than looking for antibodies to the virus which the article seemed to indicate can be brought up by a whole host of other factors, one of them being EBV? Many thanks.
Answer
Thank you for your question.
I am sorry to hear of your recent diagnosis.
You are correct that there are rare occasions when EBV antibodies can cause a false positive HIV test result. However, in the UK, every positive result is then re-tested to confirm the diagnosis using a western blot technique which looks for very specific antibodies for HIV proteins which are not found in the EBV virus.
In addition the viral load test you have had actually looks for the genetic material of HIV – called a PCR test. This would not pick up EBV genetic material by mistake. For more information about the different tests then please follow this link.
If you are wanting information aimed at people newly diagnosed written by positive people who have been through the same thing you are currently experiencing then please follow this link.