Designated Medical Practitioner Handbook

Appendix III: HIV Testing

HIV Serology Interpretation

HIV antibody test results are reported as reactive, non-reactive or indeterminate.

Confirmed repeatedly reactive results:

• indicate the presence of HIV antibodies resulting from HIV infection or passive transmission from mother to infant;
• a person who tests as antibody-positive twice on the same sample should be re-tested using a second sample.

Non-reactive results:

• indicate the absence of HIV antibodies;
• a person in the “window” period (between the initial infection and the detection of antibodies) may test antibody-negative.

Indeterminate results:

• indicate that the screen test is repeatedly reactive but the confirmatory test yields results that are neither positive nor negative;
• a person with indeterminate results should be re-tested after a three- to six-month interval.

Interpretation of HIV Testing^(a)

a. Excerpted from Counselling Guidelines for HIV Testing with permission of the Canadian Medical Association.

b. ELISA (Enzyme Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay is now more commonly referred to as EIA, Enzyme Immuno Assay)

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