HIV Saliva Test

HIV Saliva Test

The efficiency of this test in comparing with other ways of testing for the HIV virus is practically the same, so the test has to be repeated every month for one year to show a relevant result.

At the first entrance in the body of the HIV virus, this can stay in a latent form for over six months. During this time, the only way to determine the presence of the HIV virus is to look for the virus itself with the RNA testing method. The body takes months and even years to create antibodies for this virus, and the way that the immune system responds is connected to the state of the immune system before the infection. A good immune system will develop antibodies in about 3 months from the infection, time in which the saliva test shows to be relevant in discovering the HIV infection. A bad immune system takes one year to develop specific virus antibodies, during this time the saliva test will be negative, even if the virus is present in the body.

Due to this fact, testing for the HIV virus using the saliva test is irrelevant during the first months of infection and a more accurate technique is required to test for the virus.

The saliva test must be done immediately as one suspect an infection. The test has to be redone in 3 months after the first test was conducted. For those that can afford it, not even the RNA test can show relevant result in two days after the infection, since the virus is unable to multiply that fast. So no matter which method used, the RNA or the HIV saliva test, suppressive HIV medication still needs to be taken.