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Can A HIV Test Detect AIDS?

If Not What Test Do Someone Have To Take?

6 Answers

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    HIV is the virus that damages the immune system and can lead to AIDS. Testing is designed to detect antibodies to HIV. The body produces antibodies to any infection. Testing is designed to detect antibodies specific to HIV infection. If you have HIV, you do not necessarily have AIDS. Once someone is diagnosed with HIV, additional testing is done, including testing to check the amount of virus in the blood, and the CD4 cell count. HIV kills CD4 cells, which normally help fight off infections. Once the CD4 cell count drops to 200 or below, AIDS is diagnosed.

    If you think you have been exposed to HIV, you should get tested. Check the website hivtest.org to find free testing sites in your area. Just enter your ZIP code. Testing is recommended 3 months after possible exposure, followed by retesting 6 months after possible exposure. More than 98% of people who have HIV would test positive within 3 months. In very rare cases, it can take up to 6 months for someone to test positive.

    These days, HIV is not the death sentence it once was. Many people with HIV are living longer, healthier, and increasing the amount of time between diagnosis of HIV and diagnosis of AIDS.

    Source(s): I do HIV education and testing.
  • ?
    Lv 4
    5 years ago

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    NO! Once you have a positive HIV test, other blood test will be taken to see how much virus is in your system and how many t-cells(the cells that the virus attacks and mutates) your body has. Your are considered to have AIDS once meds no longer help and you have a high viral load and a low t-cell count. AIDS is advanced end stage HIV. So all thought they are "different" they are one in the same.

  • 1 decade ago

    Not exactly.

    HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. The term refers to the virus itself.

    AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. This refers to the human condition of having an impaired immune system, and it is caused by being infected with HIV. AIDS refers to the disease condition that the body is in, while HIV is the specific virus that causes that disease.

    An HIV-positive person may not have developed AIDS. In time, almost everyone who has the virus will develop the AIDS condition.

    AIDS is a diagnosis that is based on several factors, which you can find easily enough on the CDC website http://www.cdc.gov/

  • 1 decade ago

    No, the HIV test only identifies the HIV virus. AIDS only happens after HIV has progressed.

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  • 1 decade ago

    Well, you would have HIV which would progress to AIDS. So, the answer is yes.

  • 1 decade ago

    that is the test for detecting AIDS, yes.

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