pcr test accuracy do i need to worry?

Welcome to e health forum.

Please note that PCR test (viral load test) are neither approved or recommended for routine HIV testing, and it is not a test for people to check within the first 4 weeks post exposure, if they have HIV, after low risk exposures (unprotected intercourse, oral sex, etc).

Many individuals resort to doing such tests in the window period (before 4 weeks) to clear their anxiety, and testing centers may not advice them properly.

HIV infection can be ruled only by absence of HIV antibodies. In individuals with a low risk probability, screening with ELISA tests for HIV antibody, should be done after 4 weeks post exposure, and if found negative, should repeat it every 4 weeks until 12 weeks.

In specific cases, if the history of the patient and the risk associated appears to be low, at the discretion of the doctor, additional repeating of the tests can be avoided.

In your case, the chances of having HIV, just by contact of vaginal fluids to intact hands during vaginal fingering or masturbation, is very less likely. Hence there is no risk of HIV infection in your case.

Hence there is no need to do any further testing for HIV.

I hope this helps.

Sorry but this is wrong information as per nearly everything published. PCR DNA tests *are* accurate to detect HIV DNA in the blood after 28 days. Anyone who says otherwise is misinformed, including the good doctor above. PCR RNA tests *are* accurate down to 30 copies per ML and are ADVISED BY THE CDC as a diagnostic test of acute HIV infection between 7 to 14 days after exposure when acute HIV infection is suspected and antibody tests are not yet positive. I am so tired of all this conflicting misinformation FROM DOCTORS where one says one thing and another doctor says the very opposite. I wish you all would read the studies and synch up your information, because uninformed masses rely on your education to conduct their lives. You have a responsibility to be informed, not misinformed. Antibody tests are considered the conclusive testing at 3 month mark, but it is completely wrong to state that anxiety can't *legitimately* be alleviated with an RNA test or a DNA test after the proper window periods. Period!