How long it will take to know whether i have hiv through blood test and syntoms?
HIV testing The standard HIV test looks for antibodies in a person’s blood. When HIV (which is a virus) enters a person’s body, special proteins are produced. These are called antibodies. Antibodies are the body’s response to an infection. So if a person has antibodies to HIV in their blood, it means they have been infected with HIV. The only exception might be an HIV negative baby born to a positive mother. Babies retain their mother’s antibodies for up to 18 months, so may test positive on an HIV antibody test, even if they are actually HIV negative. This is why babies born to positive mothers may receive a PCR test after birth. Most people develop detectable HIV antibodies within 6 to 12 weeks of infection. In very rare cases, it can take up to 6 months. It is exceedingly unlikely that someone would take longer than 6 months to develop antibodies. Getting tested earlier than 3 months may result in an unclear test result, as an infected person may not yet have developed antibodies to
