Rapid HIV Testing in Udon Thani?

[hkca]

Hi everyone, I am new to here but I am so much worried because of what happened 5 years ago. Long story short, my ex-gf was living close to Udon Thani. We had unprotected sex in 2010. I noticed she had another bf therefore I told her to go to have HIV testing. I am pretty sure the test was done at least 2 - 3 months after her last sexual relationship with that man. She took a rapid HIV test at a clinic or hospital in Udon Thani. The wait was about 20 or 30 minutes and the result was negative.

In the last 5 years, I got married and I lived happily with my wife. But came across some HIV articles and I got so worried about being infected HIV. Can anyone please tell me about the accuracy of rapid HIV tests in Udon Thani back in 2010?

Edited August 24, 2015 by hkca

[stoneyboy]

So in 5 years since this liaison have you had/thought you may of had symptoms of HIV ?

I'm no Dr but would imagine you may know by now.

Edited August 24, 2015 by stoneyboy

[hkca]

Well, about 7 weeks after the last exposure I had a fever but it's gone in 3 days. Other than that, I did not have symptoms. I have constant headache in the last 1 year but my doctor said it's from my neck problem. My headache would be gone after massage.

Edited August 24, 2015 by hkca

[nowretired]

You are obviously worried, probably unnecessarily.

Just go to the nearest private hospital and request an STD screen including HIV.

[peterjackson]

Many HIV positive people can live for years without any symptoms. Many don't even know that they have seroconverted. A friend of mine had no clue he was HIV+ and by the time he was symptomatic, it was too late. Within 4 months of being taken ill and being diagnosed as HIV+, he was dead. The doctors said he had most likely been positive 7 to 9 years.

Get tested, with diagnosis and an effective treatment regimen, it can be managed as a non life limiting chronic condition.

[hkca]

I did go to test last week. Here in Canada, the result will be out in more than a week so I still have to wait for at least couple days. I am now FREAKING OUT and I can't do nothing at all!

[coulson]

I can't speak for where you are but most good hospitals can turn around a blood lab in an hour or so, it will be more comforting to get the all clear than to sit online worrying about it. TVF posts will do nothing more than fill you with more anxiety.

PS. ...why does a headache and a fever mean you have HIV?

I had a fever 2 weeks ago and get daily headaches at work.

[fish fingers]

I can understand you are freaking out big time, waiting for a phone call or whatever but its very unlikely you have it.

[Walter Travolta]

5 years ago you were worried that your at the time gf may have contracted HIV as she had been seeing someone else. So she had a test that came back as negative? If that happened to me I would be happy as a pig in sh!t about the result I would have put down as a relief and carried on with my life. I do not understand why after 5 years this has become an issue for you?

Not being rude or nasty but if you are a natural worrier fair enough, if not, what has brought this back into your thoughts?

[hkca]

Walter, you are correct I am a natural worrier. I got freaked out because recently I read articles about HIV and especially it says about the situation in Thailand. I am not familiar with the country and so I am worried about the accuracy of the test in city like Udon Thani (looks like a small city to me) back in 2010.

[Satcommlee]

Female to male exposure rate is less than male to female exposure rate..

I forget the statistics but they are crazy.. like 150:1 of transmission from infected male to female and like 300:1 transmission rate of infected female to male.

So if your girl was a sex worker where there are rumored to be 25% prevalence rates then you chance of transmission is like 4 x 300 = 1200:1

Not bad odds - now multiply that by a few years bare backing prostitutes once a day then you probably have something to worry about..

[coulson]

The actual test takes minutes and doesn't affect the accuracy. Your negative result is likely sitting in some pigeon hole waiting on the confidential stamp.

[Walter Travolta]

Walter, you are correct I am a natural worrier. I got freaked out because recently I read articles about HIV and especially it says about the situation in Thailand. I am not familiar with the country and so I am worried about the accuracy of the test in city like Udon Thani (looks like a small city to me) back in 2010.

Im back in the UK now and last Friday I went to my local hospital for the blood screening for the same thing. I had unprotected and it has been on my mind every once in a while so decided to go for the test. I get my results in a week also but when I was screened, the lady was telling me that it would be highly unlikely that I would have caught anything let alone HIV. Thats not to say I havent but I think in your case you are totally free from it. I take it you have had unprotected many times since 2010 without any problems of STI's? I know it can lie dormant but due to the fact that your ex's test came back negative, I think you will be OK

[hkca]

Walte, thanks for the reply. Maybe I can provide more information: I got married 4 years ago and I had sex with my wife almost every week. 3.5 years ago she had her blood work done and it was HIV negative. Should this add a little relief on me?

[coulson]

Walte, thanks for the reply. Maybe I can provide more information: I got married 4 years ago and I had sex with my wife almost every week. 3.5 years ago she had her blood work done and it was HIV negative. Should this add a little relief on me?

Comic relief......

[Walter Travolta]

Walte, thanks for the reply. Maybe I can provide more information: I got married 4 years ago and I had sex with my wife almost every week. 3.5 years ago she had her blood work done and it was HIV negative. Should this add a little relief on me?

I think you are taking the pi$$ sir

No-one has a wife and has sex almost every week

[hkca]

No, I am really worried!

Walte, thanks for the reply. Maybe I can provide more information: I got married 4 years ago and I had sex with my wife almost every week. 3.5 years ago she had her blood work done and it was HIV negative. Should this add a little relief on me?

I think you are taking the pi$$ sir

No-one has a wife and has sex almost every week

[Sheryl]

For peace of mind just get a rapid HIV test yourself. Given that the risk exposure was 5 years ago, a simple rapid test will be accurate and cost at most a few hundred baht.

The problems with relying on the test your former gf had are:

1. It is far from unknown for private clinics to issue fake test results (if you saw the actual result paper) or for women to lie altogether about having had the test (if you did not).

2. Even if she had a valid test, you cannot be certain how much time had elapsed between the test and her last possible exposure. Rapid tests test only for antibodies which take time to form.

3. Even if you are 100% certain it was 3 months since her last possible exposure, there is still a small chance (1-5%) of a false positive result at that stage.

The odds are overwhelmingly against your having contacted HIV but why not just put your mind at rest? You can get some day results, and it's inexpensive. Any government or private hospital can do this.

[dotpoom]

Focus on the positive...not the negative.... and get on with life. If people look for things that they thing they should worry about, they are sure to find some....real or imagined. In my youth I must have had a constant expression of "doom and gloom" on my face (like Jack Benny, I suppose)....for people were forever telling me to "cheer up, it might never happen".....so I did, and it didn't.

[Dr Robert]

In Udon Thani, go to Aek Udon International Hospital,make an appointment with Dr Sukij (Piyasirisilp) who is the infectious diseases and HIV specialist there-nice guy. Test is relatively cheap and results in 2 hours.

Its not a death sentence unless you dont do something about it.

good luck

[jacksam]

So in 5 years since this liaison have you had/thought you may of had symptoms of HIV ?

I'm no Dr but would imagine you may know by now.[/

quote]

I was....and HIV has POTENTIAL to progress to AIDS.

To the OP why not just both go and have blood test now.

You may as well have broad scan testing such as liver function etc. In order for quack to fill in forms you may need to include drinking habits etc. I know this is a bit of a tangent, but full check over never hurts. When was last pap test etc for the Mrs.

[MrBanks]

I see that you are back in Canada. I do not understand, if you are a worrier, why would you go and take a test that takes so long for the results?

You say that your last exposure was 5 years ago, in which event rapid testing will be 100% accurate.

Why not find a clinic that can perform a rapid test, your worries will be over in minutes.

[Colabamumbai]

I did go to test last week. Here in Canada, the result will be out in more than a week so I still have to wait for at least couple days. I am now FREAKING OUT and I can't do nothing at all!

It has been 5 years and you did nothing at all, what's a couple of more days eh?

[louse1953]

So in 5 years since this liaison have you had/thought you may of had symptoms of HIV ?

I'm no Dr but would imagine you may know by now.

Symptoms may not arise for 15 years.

[Colabamumbai]

Its hard to contract HIV via heterosexual sex, even mainstream HIV scientists admit it. The heterosexual HIV epidemic never happened.

There was a big debate on a medical forum between doctors who do and don't believe HIV causes AIDS, there's actually plenty of high profile scientists and doctors who think HIV/AIDS is a fraud.

For them to come out and say HIV=DEATH without being 100% sure and going through the usual motions was an extremely immoral thing to do, because people like the OP are having extreme anxiety over it.

Would you take time to back up these ridiculous claims.

On a side note there exists in Thailand almost epidemic levels of Hep B. There is 3 shot vac for it. Not cheap. Far far more contagious than HIV. However you may suggest that hep is another "story"

For heavens sake

Hep B and C in Thailand, what is available is Peginterferon Alpha 2a from Switzerland, injected once a week, taken with Ribavarin pills. 14,500 Baht a month from Srinakarind Hospital in Khon Kaen. The pills are made in Toronto. The third drug Sobisivir will not be available in Thailand until next year.

The 3 drugs together produce better results than just the 2 presently available.

Full viral blood test 6,900 Baht. The drugs are worse than the disease.

These meds can also be used for HIV.

[Shiver]

I got my own tests from a friend that sells test kits for all manner of things (mostly illegal drug test kits). I freaked out when someone told me "remember that girl who..." and then "she died a couple of months ago from liver failure" (liver problem stories are often the front here for any manner of other things that might otherwise embarrass the family). I did my first test immediately, which is only a finger prick much like a diabetic test, on a test strip, and takes less than a minute. 3 months later I did it again to check it was the same negative result, as I was told that it can take time for symptoms to be measurable. I still keep some tests in the refrigerator, although they may be past their sell by date by now.

Anyhow, with all the googling I did, it seems if you're black and female, you can get HIV just by looking at it from a nearby street, and Caucasians, especially male in straight sex with no skin lesions are in the least likely category, with Asians being somewhere in between. It is a real threat, but an unlikely one.

[Africanteacher]

Wondering about the accuracy of tests back in 2010? I would go ahead and get tested now.

[pattayasnowman]

The value of a Rapid HIV test as with all HIV test is next to worthless

Withe a Sensitivity of 99.6% or less and a prevalence rate of 1% for Thailand

the probability that you actually have HIV is 77% or in otherwords a test would be wrong 23% of the time

However it is worst then this.. There is no method to determine the prevalence of HIV other then using a HIV test kit - whether Western Blot or Elisa.

This was done using selecting assumed low risk test groups. Typically young Army recruits from low risk backgrounds.

So the accuracy of a HIV test Kit is based on the samples using a HIV test kit

There is no "Gold Standard" no independent method to determine HIV "infection" other then with a Test Kit

How the prevalence rate of 1% for Thailand was determined is unclear, But the average for the rest of the world is much less approx 0.1% (excluding Sub Saharan Africa)

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2155rank.html

With a prevalence rate of 0.1% the HIV test is "wrong" 75% of the time

To further illustrate how worthless these test are

A 1990 University of California tested 144 Dogs with a standard Western Blot test kits 77 0r 50% tested +ve

http://www.omsj.org/wp-content/uploads/Dogs-Test-Positive.pdf

Dogs don't contract HIV or develop AIDS

[Sheryl]

The above is completely incorrect. You confuse application for mass screening with individual testing and even there, your math is completely off. (Screening 1,000 people among whom 1% are HIV positive will yield on average 11 positive results, 9 of them genuinely with HIV and 2 false positives. So hardly "75% wrong". And the 2 false positives will of course be identified through routine confirmatory testing.) (The HIV prevalence among people who come in for testing is, of course, higher than that of the general population, since people come in to be tested for a reason.

A 99.6% sensitivity means that if an individual tested is HIV positive (and has formed antibodies, i.e. not in early stages of infection), there is only a 0.4% chance of a false negative result.

Sensitivity tells you nothing about false positives. That comes from the specificity rate. Varies according to the test kit in use, but usually between 99.1 - 99.9%, meaning that among people who test positive, it will be a false positive in under 1 percent of cases.

Even those small error margins do not apply to the final individual result though because there are fails safes. Blood samples testing positive on the rapid test are always then re-tested using Elisa/Western Blot. Whatever it may show in dogs, the Western Blot is >98% specific for HIV in humans, The chance of a false positive on both the rapid test and the Elisa or Western Blot is infintesimal....something like 1 in 10,000. This is BTW the reason results are given hours later or the next day - to allow time for confirmation testing first if the rapid test is positive. The rapid test itself gives results in just minutes.

Some clinics, especially those run by the Thai Red Cross, also do batch NAT testing in all blood samples used for rapid testing. This tests for the actual virus (as opposed to antibodies) and is extremely effective in picking up false negatives. For anyone concerned about a possible recent infection it pays to have the rapid test done in a facility which does this.

[Nemesis7]

Maybe im wrong but i feel there is much more than what is written here and that's why he is so worried....