Undetectable

[Olderkinkybiguy]

On 8/15/2022 at 8:44 AM, ellentonboy said:

What I find concerning is that Quest Labs posts across your lab results HIV detected.

Then your actual viral load is less than 20, and your doctor tell you that you're undetectable.   Even the infectious disease specialist thinks it's confusing.....so what gives?  His explanation is that the labs are now so finite it can detect even the slightest trace of the virus.  However other patients who use Lab Corp don't have the "HIV detected" on their results. It's upsetting when you open the app and you see that message.  Ugh....

I found out in 2001 that I was HIV+. After starting meditation, I was undetectable several months later. My lab is Quest and on my test results page, for the past couple of years, since I created my account, it just lists undetectable. The first two results showed a below 20 viral load. The last two results just states undetected with no value. As per my doctor, my value is still below 20. Not sure why the recent values are not shown. 
 

I’m by no means an expert or a medical professional, but it’s my understanding the test shows reactive or positive because the test checks for antibodies in your blood, not necessarily the virus. I know someone who has/had HEP-C and they get flagged every time they get tested, but the virus is still dormant in their system. I read an article where if an undetectable person was to perform an in home HIV test, they still will test positive because of the antibodies in our system. I agree, it’s very confusing. 
 

as for explaining the science behind U=U, I have basically have stopped tying to educate most people. Either someone gets it, or they don’t. I take my medication daily and it’s just part of my life now. If anyone questions me on the reliability of the science behind U=U, I inform them my wife is still HIV- after almost 16 years of unprotected sex. I suggest she might just be lucky! I know the truth and that’s all I have the energy to care about. If someone is genuinely interested in understanding, I will take the time to share what I have learned over the years of living a somewhat “average” life on meds. 

[viking8x6]

On 5/11/2023 at 5:07 PM, Olderkinkybiguy said:

On 5/11/2023 at 5:07 PM, Olderkinkybiguy said:

  On 8/15/2022 at 9:44 AM, ellentonboy said:

What I find concerning is that Quest Labs posts across your lab results HIV detected.

Then your actual viral load is less than 20, and your doctor tell you that you're undetectable.   Even the infectious disease specialist thinks it's confusing.....so what gives?  His explanation is that the labs are now so finite it can detect even the slightest trace of the virus.  However other patients who use Lab Corp don't have the "HIV detected" on their results. It's upsetting when you open the app and you see that message.  Ugh....

My lab is Quest and on my test results page, for the past couple of years, since I created my account, it just lists undetectable. The first two results showed a below 20 viral load. The last two results just states undetected with no value.

I’m by no means an expert or a medical professional, but it’s my understanding the test shows reactive or positive because the test checks for antibodies in your blood, not necessarily the virus. I know someone who has/had HEP-C and they get flagged every time they get tested, but the virus is still dormant in their system. I read an article where if an undetectable person was to perform an in home HIV test, they still will test positive because of the antibodies in our system. I agree, it’s very confusing. 
 

 meds. 

OK, here's how it works:

THERE ARE (AT LEAST) TWO DIFFERENT KINDS OF HIV TEST.

There is an antibody test. Home tests (Oraquik) are this type. So are the ones that most clinics and doctors use for routine screening. This is the test people usually refer to when they say "poz" (you have tested "positive" for the antibodies). It detects the antibodies to HIV that your body makes when you are infected. Either you have them (if your body has had an immune reaction to an HIV infection) or you don't. Even if the HIV were to be completely removed from your body, you would still have them. This is why the Hep-C test shows positive even though it may be completely cleared. It is also why I test positive to Hep-A and Hep-B even though I've never had them. I had the vaccines, and those caused my body to generate an antibody response just as though it had actually been infected.

Then, there is a viral RNA test. This is the kind that tells you the "viral load". It measures the actual number of copies of viral RNA in one mL of your blood (approximately). The technology of these tests has improved over the years. They are currently capable of detecting 20 copies of RNA per mL. Anything less than that, and the signal is too small to read, so it is literally "undetectable". Some labs will report this as "< 20", and some will report it as "not detected". If you look at the actual test results, they will specify exactly what the valid range of measurement of the test is (in the results @Olderkinkybiguy posted above, this looks like "Reportable range: 20 copies/mL to 10,000,000 copies/mL").

For purposes of "U=U", the current state of the medical arts tells us that a blood virus level of anything lower than 200 copies per mL effectively lowers the chances of transmission by sexual intercourse to zero. Actually what it does is make them so small that they are unmeasurable given the amount of statistical data we have available. Practically, what it means is that your chances are much better of being hit by a truck [or insert improbability metaphor of your choice] than of catching it that way. This is how you can be "undetectable" even with a viral load of 20 copies/mL (which is in fact detectable with the sensitivity of modern tests).

Ain't science grand?