Testing Procedures for HIV

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Dr. Savage. You were wondering the different types of testing procedures to screen for HIV. Really, there are only a few to initially diagnose HIV, and that's what we're talking about. Most simply, and actually recently, more commonly there have been rapid HIV tests. There are a couple of different types of those. There can be an oral swab, and then there could be like a fast blood test in which you find out the results of this test, whether it's positive or negative, the same day. The more conventional methods; it's similar in testing but it's, you know, an IV blood test that's sent off to a lab. And it takes a little more than a week where they do a couple of tests; specifically ELISA and Western blot, two tests in which they determine, you know, is this blood sample likely to have HIV or not. That's that's the other one. From that point on the procedure is as such; if it's negative and you think you're at risk you're going to consider being tested again, and if you get a negative and there is any concern I highly recommend being tested again. It's better to know than not to know. If there is a positive there'll be further tests to confirm that it actually is positive. This is something at that point you'd take up with your infectious disease doctor, and/or, you know, your primary care physician. I think that's enough to give you the basics of some of the procedures involved in HIV testing. I'm Dr. Savage. Here's to your health."