{"id":262,"date":"2008-01-11T18:50:57","date_gmt":"2008-01-11T17:50:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.i-base.info\/qa\/?p=262"},"modified":"2024-10-14T09:15:41","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T09:15:41","slug":"do-i-need-western-blot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/262","title":{"rendered":"Do I need a western blot test to confirm my HIV status?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Western blot is usually used to confirm a &#8216;positive&#8217; result from an ELISA (HIV antibody test). A negative result 38 weeks after the possible exposure is conclusive according to UK guidelines (BASHH say a result after 24 weeks is conclusive). I suppose your doctor suggests the blot, because he\/she has seen that you are very anxious. In fact, according to the testing algorithms, you do not need the western blot, especially as it is more expensive.<\/p>\n<p>If this will calm you down though, then this is your choice. The sensitivity of the test is really high and it will &#8216;clear&#8217; the issue, even though there is no real medical need to take it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have tested at 38th week negative through the normal antibody test. However, I still have anxiety issues.<\/p>\n<p>My lab doctor actually asked me to do a Western blot to &#8216;clear&#8217; the issue once and for all.<\/p>\n<p>Is it necessary? A Western blot is quite expensive and takes at least 1 month for the result. What are the chances for false negative or positive for the Western blot? Can a negative antibody happen together with a Western blot?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-topics","category-hiv-testing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24281,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262\/revisions\/24281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-base.info\/qa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}