Anyone of us, especially persons that are engaged in unprotected sex, are susceptible to HIV. HIV or Human Immunodeficiency Virus is what causes the disease, most of us fear, which is Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). AIDS is an irreversible illness and the person that has it will soon depart this life due to weak immune system. Performing an HIV test can help us to a peace our mind if we got a negative result or slow down HIV from degenerating if we have one. There are many ways to perform the test and each method involves some test kits. Each of HIV test kit has an almost 100% accuracy and there are thousands of them available nowadays. Before you start searching for the right one, there are few important things you need to know before buying this test kit.
Person having an HIV on its early stage does not show any symptoms. Later on when the virus is on its way to cause AIDS, the person will show headaches, fatigue, sore throat, chest infection, diarrhea, vomiting, and swollen lymph nodes. When that point comes, stopping it to get worst is impossible. That is why diagnosing it on its early stage is very important. HIV test can be grouped into three ways, the antibody testing, antigen testing, and nucleic acid testing (NAT). Before we discuss each, you need to know first the term called "window period". It is the time that starts from the moment the infection is acquired until the time a test can distinguish any change. Now, differentiating each group from their window period; antibody testing averages for 25 days window period, antigen testing averages for 16 days, while nucleic acid testing cuts this period up to 12 days.
The standard way of diagnosing HIV patient is using at least two of these methods. In Western countries, those three methods are used on their blood banks to increase the accuracy of the test and avoid inadequate results which spread more the infection. Performance of the tests is often described by these terms, sensitivity and specificity. Sensitivity is the term used to describe the percentage of outcome that will be positive if the HIV is there while specificity is the term for the percentage of outcome that will be negative if the HIV is not present. Also, during the test there are two erroneous results that may occur. These are false positive, where the result indicates incorrectly that the non-infected person has an HIV and false negative, where the result indicates incorrectly that an infected person has a no HIV. One of the reason those events happen is that the patient has other illness that shows a similar sign of HIV such as hypergammaglobulinemia, autoimmune diseases, and post-exposure prophylaxis. The most widely used among the methods of test is the antibody test specifically the ELISA antibody test (Enzyme-linked immnunoabsorbent) .
In short term it is also known as Enzyme Immnoassay or EIA. It is the most advisable routine examination of HIV among adults simply because it has a reasonably price and it is very accurate. This test can be performed in urine, saliva, or blood sample. The problem here is that it has a high level of sensitivity which sequentially lowers its specificity. It lacks the ability to distinguish HIV antibodies from other antibodies therefore have a greater chance of having false positive result. After performing the initial test on any of the methods and having an outcome of HIV positive, it will be followed up by one of the confirmatory test. Some of the tests used at this stage are Western blot assay, indirect immunoflourescence assay, line immunoassay, and a second ELISA for those who really do not have enough resources. On the combination of the initial and secondary test, the chance of getting the accurate result is increased up to 99.9%. Another thing to add is that you can take your own sampling or perform the initial test at home using an HIV testing kit. Before buying any of these kits, just be guided that it is illegal to some of the countries. Also, remember to choose test kits from retailers that are certified by FAD. FAD is an international government body that ensures the quality of kits for its safe use.
These are some of the important things you need to know before buying any HIV testing kit. Remember; always educate yourself before making a decision.
Person having an HIV on its early stage does not show any symptoms. Later on when the virus is on its way to cause AIDS, the person will show headaches, fatigue, sore throat, chest infection, diarrhea, vomiting, and swollen lymph nodes. When that point comes, stopping it to get worst is impossible. That is why diagnosing it on its early stage is very important. HIV test can be grouped into three ways, the antibody testing, antigen testing, and nucleic acid testing (NAT). Before we discuss each, you need to know first the term called "window period". It is the time that starts from the moment the infection is acquired until the time a test can distinguish any change. Now, differentiating each group from their window period; antibody testing averages for 25 days window period, antigen testing averages for 16 days, while nucleic acid testing cuts this period up to 12 days.
The standard way of diagnosing HIV patient is using at least two of these methods. In Western countries, those three methods are used on their blood banks to increase the accuracy of the test and avoid inadequate results which spread more the infection. Performance of the tests is often described by these terms, sensitivity and specificity. Sensitivity is the term used to describe the percentage of outcome that will be positive if the HIV is there while specificity is the term for the percentage of outcome that will be negative if the HIV is not present. Also, during the test there are two erroneous results that may occur. These are false positive, where the result indicates incorrectly that the non-infected person has an HIV and false negative, where the result indicates incorrectly that an infected person has a no HIV. One of the reason those events happen is that the patient has other illness that shows a similar sign of HIV such as hypergammaglobulinemia, autoimmune diseases, and post-exposure prophylaxis. The most widely used among the methods of test is the antibody test specifically the ELISA antibody test (Enzyme-linked immnunoabsorbent) .
In short term it is also known as Enzyme Immnoassay or EIA. It is the most advisable routine examination of HIV among adults simply because it has a reasonably price and it is very accurate. This test can be performed in urine, saliva, or blood sample. The problem here is that it has a high level of sensitivity which sequentially lowers its specificity. It lacks the ability to distinguish HIV antibodies from other antibodies therefore have a greater chance of having false positive result. After performing the initial test on any of the methods and having an outcome of HIV positive, it will be followed up by one of the confirmatory test. Some of the tests used at this stage are Western blot assay, indirect immunoflourescence assay, line immunoassay, and a second ELISA for those who really do not have enough resources. On the combination of the initial and secondary test, the chance of getting the accurate result is increased up to 99.9%. Another thing to add is that you can take your own sampling or perform the initial test at home using an HIV testing kit. Before buying any of these kits, just be guided that it is illegal to some of the countries. Also, remember to choose test kits from retailers that are certified by FAD. FAD is an international government body that ensures the quality of kits for its safe use.
These are some of the important things you need to know before buying any HIV testing kit. Remember; always educate yourself before making a decision.
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