It has come to my attention that there is some confusion regarding HIV testing and the transmissibility of HIV. A brief summary is as follows. Upon initial infection, the virus rapidly replicates inside the host and is immediately contagious. Unfortunately, modern testing can not detect the virus for a period of time, known as a window period. During the initial period of infection, the person has an undetectable viral load but is still infected. This is a false negative test result. A NAT test can become positive around 10 days while the antigen/antibody test takes about 18 days. During this acute infection period, the individual is highly contagious with rapidly replicating virus. During the initial infection, undetectable means a window period exists and the virus … Continue reading From Dr. Jason Goldman Regarding Our HIV Testing