if you are tested for hiv and it comes up negative, can you still have it but the test cant tell for 7 years?

there is not a seven year guideline...but usually if it is negative you would do a 6 month follow up draw....than re check yearly

NO WAY! HIV will show up on a test with in 3 months, maybe a little more for a few people. Usually HIV shows up 90% of the time 30 days after infection.

It is people who don't test because they "know how to pick 'em", or don't have a lot of partners that can be infected and not know it. It is this group of people that can be HIV+ 10-12 years before any major signs.

I took a HIV test last week. They told me that using the test that is considered the standard test, the results are 95% accurate at 3 months after potential infection and 99% accurate at 6 months beyond potential infection. The standard test I'm referring to searches for the antibodies that you body creates to fight the virus in your blood. Once you're infected, you're infected. Your body starts to produce antibodies right away, although you might not see symptoms at first. If you're tested soon after infection, your body has not had enough time to produce a lot of antibodies, which makes them harder to find in your blood. But by 6 months your body has produced enough antibodies that they can be detected even if you are not showing any symptoms yet.

There is a newer test that is starting to come into use. This test looks for the virus itself. It is about 99% accurate at 1 month after potential infection. The drawback to this test is not every clinic offers it yet, it can be expensive, and the results take 2 weeks to come back (as opposed to the other test which can usually be run while you wait).

To sum up, once you're infected, you're infected. At 6 months any test should be able to tell you if you have HIV or not even if you are not showing any symptoms (which is why it's a good idea to get tested once every 6-12 months if you are sexually active, especially if you are a gay male). And I learned all of that from going in to get tested last week!

you could have just typed into yahoo or google 'hiv test' and you wouldve found countless sites which explicitly say that any hiv test would give you an accurate result after 3 months... if you want to be SUPER safe, go for 6 months.

99% of all people will come back with an accurate result after 3 months. 1% of people (there really has only been like a dozen cases or so cases) will have an accurate result at 6 months.

sorry but this question is ignorant. how old are you and dont they teach sex ed in your school?

No, six months is the longest. If you test six months after the episode of exposure and it is negative, then you are in the clear.

Yes. If You Have or Are at Risk for HIV

Having genital herpes can increase the risk of being infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and it can cause serious problems for people living with HIV.