Question
Can an HIV diagnosis be confused with something else?
21 October 2008. Related: All topics, Living with HIV long-term, Opportunistic infections.
Can HIV be confused with some other illness?
I ask, because I`ve been HIV-positive for 5 years and have been taking medications for 5 years without a problem at all. In fact haven’t had cold or flu for 2 years.
I`ve read people`s questions on here and wonder, I`ve had enlarged lymph glands since I was 13, had a biopsy on one in my neck, which came back ok. I am 27 and they are still there: neck, throat, armpits, and groin.
Answer
Getting an HIV diagnosis should be very accurate because all positive results on the first test should be confirmed with a second type of laboratory HIV test (called western blot).
So long as you had this second confirmatory test the chance of not being positive is close to zero. It would only be explained, for example, if your results were mixed up with someone else’s blood sample.
However, we do occassionally hear of circumstances where the confirmatory second test has not been carried out. This is very bad practice and the second test (called western blot) should be run whenever this is discovered to have happened.
No-one should routinely start HIV treatment (ART) without having had a confirmatory western blot HIV test.
Enlarged lymph nodes are fairly common among people living with HIV and if is continues is called ‘persistant generalised lymphadenopathy’ (PGL).
The strict diagnosis of PGL requires you to have swollen glands in two or more parts of the body outside the groin, such as the neck and armpits, for three months or longer. It is thought to be an indication that the immune system is fighting back against HIV.
PGL does not seem to have any particular value in predicting how HIV will progress; people who develop PGL seem to do no better but no worse than people who do not.
Some people with HIV develop OIs without ever having PGL, while in others the PGL may start to shrink just before an opportunistic infection occurs.
Your risk of catching a cold is not affected by your HIV diagnosis – the risk are the same as for an HIV-negative person.
HIV positive people are advised to have an annual ‘flu jab as ‘flu is more serious if your immune system is already damaged. If your CD4 count is very low the vaccine is less likely to work.
Hey Chris, without more details about the type of test used it is difficult to comment. Has your positive test be confirmed by a laboratory test yet? This is really important as some types of HIV tests, including some used at home, can produced false positive results.
If you have been using PrEP since your negative results, it is very unlikely you would be positive now. It is easier to reply in more detial if you have the results of the lab test and we can do this privately by email if you prefer:
questions@i-base.org.uk
So I got tested back in December 2023 and was negative. Then in February I got tested again by for prep and it came back negative and started with Descovy and then switched to Truvada. Then was with a guy recently that told me to get tested. I got tested again and came back positive for hiv. How is this possible. I feel like confused and don’t believe the results. Anyone have any input. Please help.