Rapid HIV tests

Rapid HIV tests are point-of-care tests that have results available in 20 minutes. They can be performed in the doctor’s office by trained professionals or at home. These are good preliminary tests for people who don’t like going to the doctor.

The accuracy of most rapid tests is very high with chronic HIV (HIV that you’ve had for some time) but less accurate for early HIV detection.

This chapter presents a table comparing the FDA-approved HIV tests, followed by frequently asked questions answered by an expert doctor.

Let’s move on!

Comparison of rapid HIV tests

This table is showing the comparison for different Rapid HIV tests that is approved by FDA in USA.

	How soon are the results back?	How the test is done	What the test detects	Earliest time after exposure the test can be done	Ideal time for the test (when it is the most reliable)	False positive rate	False negative rate
ARCHITECT HIV Ag/Ab Combo	20 minutes	Blood test	HIV 1 & 2 Ab p24 antigen	2 weeks	3 months after exposure: 99% accurate	Very unlikely	Only if it is done too early
Elecsys HIV Duo	18 minutes	Blood test	HIV 1 & 2 Ab p24 antigen	2 weeks	3 months after exposure: 99.93% accuracy	Very unlikely	Only if it is done too early
Alere Determine HIV Ag/Ab test	20 minutes	Blood test	HIV 1 & 2 Ab p24 antigen	2 weeks	6 weeks after exposure: 95% accuracy 3 months after exposure: 99% accuracy	Very unlikely	Only if it is done too early
OraQuick	20–40 minutes	Oral swab (swab of the upper and lower gums)	HIV Ab	2 weeks	3 months after exposure: 92% accuracy	1 in 5,000	1 in 12

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Frequently Asked Questions

In this section, our expert doctor will answer patients’ most frequently asked questions about rapid HIV testing. We have reviewed real-life patient questions and grouped them by topic. Dr. Fuzayloff has been a practicing physician at a busy STD clinic in Midtown Manhattan, NYC, for over two decades.

Which is more accurate, oral or blood tests?
A rapid HIV blood test can be done sooner and is a bit more accurate.
- An oral test is less sensitive than a blood test because of the lower level of antibodies in oral fluid; up to 8% of people can test false negative.
- An HIV rapid blood test is checking for antigens and antibodies, unlike the oral HIV test, which checks only for antibodies. This means more time post exposure is necessary for the oral test to pick up the infection.
  - Blood test: 2–3 weeks
  - Oral test: 3 months
What if a rapid HIV test is positive?
An initial positive HIV test (of any type) is preliminary and needs to be reconfirmed by laboratory-based antigen/antibody testing.
What if a rapid HIV test is negative?
- Be sure the test was done at least three months after exposure.
- If you believe the exposure was high risk, reconfirm the negative test with a laboratory-based antigen/antibody test.

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Rapid HIV tests

Comparison of rapid HIV tests

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is more accurate, oral or blood tests?

What if a rapid HIV test is positive?

What if a rapid HIV test is negative?

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