How soon after infection will a person test HIV positive?
Infection with HIV has no specific symptoms. The only way you can find out for sure if you are infected with HIV is by taking the HIV antibody test. The HIV antibody test looks for antibodies to the virus in a person’s blood. For most people these antibodies take 3 months to develop. In rare cases, it can take up to 6 months. It would be extremely uncommon to take longer then 6 months to develop detectable antibodies. Getting tested before the 3 month period is up may result in an unclear test result, as an infected person may not have developed antibodies to HIV yet. So it is best to wait for at least three months after the last time you were at risk before taking the test. Some test centres may recommend testing again at 6 months, just to be extra sure. It is also important that you are not at risk of further exposures to HIV during this time period. Most importantly you should continue to practice safe sex and not share needles.
