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HIV Testing Rookies
I've been dating a girl for over 2 years. We have been lifelong friends, but not lifelong partners. Since we started dating, we have always had unprotected vaginal and oral sex, even though neither of us have ever tested for HIV. Foolish I know, but I guess I just assumed HIV didn't happen to people like us. We are both white heterosexuals who grew up in a small suburban neighborhood outside of Los Angeles. Neither of us had ever used drugs, met someone with HIV, etc. so it was sort of out of sight, out of mind.
A few weeks ago we decided to finally get tested, I guess because it's better to know late than never, right?
We both decided to take two tests each one day apart. First test was Blood Draw from LabCorp and it was listed as a 3rd Generation HIV 1/O/2 Antibodies by ICMA. Second test was Oral Swab from CVS in US and it was HIV 1/O/2 Antibodies by OraQuick. Both tests for both my girlfriend and I came back negative. My question is this, can we be confident that neither of us have HIV and continue unprotected sex with confidence? I want to marry this girl...
Just to share our history... Before my girlfriend, I had 4 partners. Before me, my girlfriend had 6 partners. We participated in protected and unprotected sexual activity with all of them.
A few weeks ago we decided to finally get tested, I guess because it's better to know late than never, right?
We both decided to take two tests each one day apart. First test was Blood Draw from LabCorp and it was listed as a 3rd Generation HIV 1/O/2 Antibodies by ICMA. Second test was Oral Swab from CVS in US and it was HIV 1/O/2 Antibodies by OraQuick. Both tests for both my girlfriend and I came back negative. My question is this, can we be confident that neither of us have HIV and continue unprotected sex with confidence? I want to marry this girl...
Just to share our history... Before my girlfriend, I had 4 partners. Before me, my girlfriend had 6 partners. We participated in protected and unprotected sexual activity with all of them.
Thank you so much for your reassurance. I do have a couple more questions, and I will leave you with no more questions...
I had read that ELISA tests were considered the "gold standard" for HIV testing. However, the tests I took were by ICMA and OraQuick. The clinic who ordered our testing through LabCorp assured us ICMA was a 3rd Generation Antibody Blood test, and they also said the OraQuick was very accurate at the timeframe at which we took it. So my questions are as follows...
1. Are the tests we took considered reliable, FDA approved, etc. or should we have taken what I see are being referred to as 4th generation tests and/or RNA tests?
(There is so much information that it's confusing...)
2. How accurate are the tests we took? Meaning, would it be unlikely that we could both test negative with two different tests and not actually be negative?
(I read HIV tests are only as good as the day they were taken, so I did not know if that made taking 2 tests pointless...)
Again... THANK YOU so much for all you do here.
I had read that ELISA tests were considered the "gold standard" for HIV testing. However, the tests I took were by ICMA and OraQuick. The clinic who ordered our testing through LabCorp assured us ICMA was a 3rd Generation Antibody Blood test, and they also said the OraQuick was very accurate at the timeframe at which we took it. So my questions are as follows...
1. Are the tests we took considered reliable, FDA approved, etc. or should we have taken what I see are being referred to as 4th generation tests and/or RNA tests?
(There is so much information that it's confusing...)
2. How accurate are the tests we took? Meaning, would it be unlikely that we could both test negative with two different tests and not actually be negative?
(I read HIV tests are only as good as the day they were taken, so I did not know if that made taking 2 tests pointless...)
Again... THANK YOU so much for all you do here.
Just to confirm (sorry I am very naive) as long as my girlfriend and I are/have been faithful, we are both conclusively HIV negative and it would be impossible to get HIV from each other?
Also to clarify, I said vaginal sex because I have never had anal sex of any kind.
Yes I have not had unprotected vaginal sex with anyone else in at least 3 years. I did have protected vaginal sex with someone else at the very beginning of our relationship when we weren't exclusive, and other than that a couple years ago, I've only had an unprotected hand job and protected blow job from a stripper at my friend's bachelor party like 4 months ago. Would any of these be considered risks?
Has it been at least 3 months since your last unprotected intercourse with someone else?
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