Partner got a reactive HIV test result

I work in sexual health. Firstly, I would try not to panic, which actually it sounds like you’re doing so that’s great. Take yourself tomorrow to a walk-in appointment at the sexual health clinic. If you can’t get into the clinic and you want a quick result, you can get an HIV self test kit for home use (Insti is a trusted brand). It will give you a relatively accurate result given you have been in a relationship a long time and if you were exposed, it would likely be earlier in your relationship.

If I were you, I would do both. Self test for HIV, but also get a full sexual health screening including blood tests for HIV, syphillis and Hepatitis B/C at the clinic.

People absolutely do get false positives. They are more common than you would think. But the supposed insufficient result from before does raise my eyebrows a bit. People do get insufficient results when they collect the blood themselves at home, but it rarely happens during in clinic testing, if that’s what he did. Even if someone is positive, the chances of them passing HIV on is still not high, but you want to get this checked out so you know. Let him sort himself out, he will need further testing to check the reactive result, but you look after you right now.

I think tests can be negative for up to 3 months after initial infection which is why GUM clinic sometimes advise to come back again for a retest. So it's not negative for years. Book yourself a test and use barrier contraception/abstain until it is clear what is going on.

I don't get why he wasn't tested when you got together. Surely the healthcare professional took a normal sized blood sample? Or if not why didn't he go back again? Seems a bit odd.... I mean why bother to get tested and then not follow it through?

i think a reactive result leading to a confirmed diagnosis of hiv is reflective of the population that the person lives in…so for a person in the uk, who has never had sex with men, probability of it being due to HIV is around 28%, however a reactive result in someone in certain parts of Africa , probability would be around 97-98%. Ultimately if he is from an African community I would be more worried and I would initiate your own testing asap (sometimes false positives can occur from reactivity to other infections)

Get yourself tested as soon as you possibly can.

Are you sure he told you the truth about the earlier difficulty with his test?

Scary stuff, get tested. Don’t wait,

So frightening for both of you. This is life now isn’t it, despite testing and good intentions things can and will happen. HIV is very manageable today, not at all what the legacy would leave you to believe. Get tested yourself, don’t rely on his results, I wish you both well.

Id hold fire and wait for his result. There is a number of false positives hence they call it a reactive result esp if rapid testing.

Hopefully it is a false positive. Is he from a country with high rates of HIV?

This. At the end of the day your first concern needs to be if you are positive or not. It could be a false positive- I had one - but they're pretty rare. Although hiv can persist in the body for years without making you noticeably sick it is detectable from 3 months after infection. I'd be concerned given his non-test when you first got together.

How worrying...Book a test for yourself just in case. Hopefully it is nothing and a false positive

Book yourself in asap

Book in for a test yourself immediately