What does non-reactive mean for my HIV-1&2 result?

Introduction

If you've been tested for HIV and are feeling a little unsure about the results, don't worry. You're not alone. In fact, over 50% of people who get HIV tests take them more than once because they don't think their first result is accurate. But what does it mean when your test comes back non-reactive? In this article we'll explain exactly what that means and how to move forward with additional testing if necessary.

The term "non-reactive" is commonly used in reference to HIV-1 and HIV-2 antibody test results. This means that no antibodies to HIV-1 or HIV-2 were identified in your blood sample. A non-reactive result does not necessarily indicate that you do not have HIV; it could mean that you are newly infected with either virus, tested too early after becoming infected for there to be enough antibodies for the test to detect them in your blood sample, or both (see below).

You could have a false-negative result.

If a person's test result is negative, but they are still experiencing symptoms of HIV, then it may be that their test was a false-negative. This can happen for a variety of reasons:

• If you are taking antiretroviral therapy (ART), your chance of having a false-negative result is higher because the medication can suppress the virus enough that it does not show up in your blood test. Your first step should be to talk to your doctor about whether or not you need additional tests such as PCR and western blot to confirm this information.
• Your results will also be more likely to turn out as false negatives if you have been infected recently. This means that even if your viral load is undetectable at the time of testing, it could still be high enough to give you positive results on later tests after some time has passed. In this case, it would also help if you retested yourself after approximately three months have gone by since exposure occurred so we can get an idea of how long it takes before an initial infection becomes detectable through standard blood screening methods."

You could have a false-positive result.

• False-positive results can occur for a number of reasons.
• You may have been tested when you weren’t in the window period, which means that the amount of time between when you were exposed to HIV and when you got tested was too short for antibodies to appear in your body.
• If you’ve been exposed to another disease that causes false positives (like hepatitis or mononucleosis), this can skew your results. This occurs because these diseases produce antibodies similar to those produced by HIV/AIDS infections, which tricks test into thinking that they are detecting an infection with HIV/AIDS.
• If you recently had sex with someone who is infected with a STD like herpes or syphilis, then these infections could be causing positive results on your test even though they're not related at all

You may not be infected with HIV at all.

If your test result is non-reactive, you may not be infected with HIV at all.

You could have a false-negative result, which means that it’s possible that you do have the virus but the test did not detect it. This can happen if the window period has not passed since you were exposed to HIV and during this time there aren’t enough copies of the virus in your blood for detection. The window period is the amount of time between when someone gets infected with HIV and when they start producing antibodies against it.

If your test results say "non-reactive" then this confirms that you do NOT have HIV-1 or 2 antibodies in your blood right now (the same antibody tests used to detect early infection are used here). The “non-reactive" result does not guarantee that no antibodies will ever be detected (a "final negative"). However, in most cases after receiving this type of result from an antibody test, further testing should be done at least every 6 months until either:

• You receive a true positive or final negative; OR 2) Your risk factors change significantly so as to warrant more frequent testing (e.g., becoming pregnant).

When you get your HIV results you should wait for reactive or non-reactive, and then take additional testing if necessary.

If your results are reactive, this likely means that you have been infected with HIV-1 or 2. If your results are non-reactive, it is likely that you are not infected with either virus.

If you tested positive for HIV, then you should be retested after three months to confirm the results. If the test is still positive at that point and/or if there is any doubt as to whether or not it might be a false positive reaction (meaning that although there was enough of the virus present in his blood sample for it to show up on the test) then he should get another confirmatory test such as Western blot analysis which is more specific than ELISA alone.

Non-reactive means that no antibodies to HIV-1 or HIV-2 were identified in your blood sample.

Non-reactive means that no antibodies to HIV-1 or HIV-2 were identified in your blood sample.

Reactive means that antibodies to HIV-1 or HIV-2 were identified in your blood sample

A non-reactive result does not necessarily indicate that you do not have HIV.

The test is not 100% accurate and can be inconclusive, which means that you may require further testing.

It's difficult to diagnose HIV in the early stages of infection because your body hasn't had enough time to develop antibodies against it. This can happen if you were infected with HIV recently or if your immune system isn't working properly.

The non-reactive result does not necessarily indicate that you do not have HIV. There are several reasons why this could happen:

Conclusion

Non-reactive does not mean that you do not have HIV. You should get tested again for HIV and other STIs if you are concerned about your results. Reactive also does not mean that you are definitely infected with HIV, as there are many reasons why your test could be positive or negative. The most important thing is to remember that HIV testing is a process so don’t panic if your result doesn't match up with what you expected!