You say its been changed to 3 months? - HIV Prevention Message Board

besafe20 · 09-18-2003, 05:24 PM

Hi have read many of people's posts claiming the cdc finally changed their window period to 3 months instead of six. I was wondering if that still applies to the past few years. Did they change it because the elisa has been new and improved or because they thought six months wasn't really accurate? I had a test 2 years ago 4 months after possible exposure and it was negative. So was that ok not to retest 2 months later?

09-18-2003, 06:28 PM

i think it's a little of both. the testing has improved and the 6 month window period has been a little conservative the past few years.
if you have any remaining doubts just take another test and you can be confident it is conclusive.

maybe helpful · 09-18-2003, 07:32 PM

I havent seen where the CDC had offically changed the window period, but I posted below that as of 2002 they said that 3 months was AT LEAST 95% conclusive. From what i understand, 6 months is recommended for HIGH risk exposures, and KNOWN exposures.

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Good Luck and Be Safe

09-18-2003, 07:56 PM

with my upcoming 13 week test next week i called the cdc to see exactly what 3 months is. the guy told me that they are only allowed to say 3 calendar months meaning if your exposure was 6/1 then 9/1 would be 3 months. if you call and ask they will tell you its the new window period but they will prob suggest testing out to 6 months if you have a high risk.