When will I receive my HIV test results?

When will I receive my HIV test results?

Charles Farthing (Chief of Medicine, AIDS Healthcare Foundation) gives expert video advice on: What are the symptoms of HIV?; Where can I be tested for HIV?; Is there a home test kit for HIV? and more...

An HIV antibody test result can be available in 15 minutes with a rapid HIV test. And that's the HIV test that we recommend being used, because if you do the routine test and send it to the laboratory, when the result comes back in two or three days' time, often the HIV patient doesn't return for the result; and if the result is HIV positive, that's a bit of a tragedy. So we like to know right away what the result is so that we can do the confirmatory HIV test, test the patient's immune system to see if they need treatment for HIV, and get them into HIV treatment immediately and not lose them.