What can I do if I think I may be HIV+?

If you think you may have been exposed to HIV, the only sure way of knowing if you are HIV+ is to have a HIV test. When someone is infected with HIV, their immune system produces antibodies to the virus, however this can take up to three months as is known as the ‘window period’.

A HIV Test is actually trying to detect these antibodies from a sample of blood. It is possible for someone to have a test during the ‘window period’ and get a HIV-negative result (because the immune system has not yet produced these antibodies) when they are in fact HIV-positive.

Does having HIV, mean I have AIDS?

Not necessarily, many people who are HIV+ can remain healthy and well for many years, often more than ten years. Testing early to see if you have been infected with HIV, means that you can take action to stay healthy, perhaps through using anti-HIV treatments which help to slow down the progress made by HIV in damaging the immune system and causing illness.

However, some people, test later in infection at a time when they are ill with an Opportunistic Infection (the infections that take advantage of the damage caused to the immune system by HIV). This can mean that such individuals with HIV, might at the same time be diagnosed as having AIDS.