Can someone please shed some light on this.
If you contract the virus (HIV) say tonight and go for a check the next day, will it show up in the blood tests?
If it doesn't, how long before it does?
Thanks!
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Now that you've brought that up, i wonder just how effective the HIV/AIDS awareness campaign is. Is it just partly ignorance when so much money is poured into this campaign but people still go ahead and contract the disease?
Anyway, i dont think you'd be able to find out the next day whether you were HIV positive or not. Give it a few months maybe.
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The virus likes to hide itself within your body then all of a sudden it will re emerge to cause havoc to your T-cells. That is the simplest way I can put it for you; it can take a 2weeks to 3 months at the most show up in your body!
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HIV infects a specific type of white blood cell, called a T-cell, T for thymus, a gland. It is sometimes known as a helper cell.
The function of the T-cell is like a music conductor, that tells other white blood cell what to do.
When HIV infects a person, initially it enters the T-cell and its DNA fuses with the T-Cell DNA. The T-cell is fooled to think that the DNA is its own and starts making proteins which assemble to form many thousands of HIV virus inside the T-Cell. While this is happening, special molecules appear on the surface of the T-Cell that says to other white blood cells, `Hey I have a virus in me`.
The other white cell recognises this chemical signals starts reacting to it by producing antibodies. It is the antibodies that a measured in a HIV test. This production of antibodies takes about 3 months (max) to appear in the blood but not less than 3 weeks. This period, the time it takes for the antibodies to appear in the blood is known as `window period`, as a person can be infected and test NEGATIVE to the virus.
So there you go, why can not you test positive a few weeks after you are infected? Because the body takes time to react to the infection for the test to detect the virus.
However, other specialised test that test for the HIV DNA eg PCR can detect the virus early than the antibody test.
This is a very simplistic explaination for a complex process and hopes it sheds some light to your questions.
peace
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If Hiv enters and fuses with the T-cell, is it possible to do a DNA check of Thymus gland alone to check if there is a presence of the Virus??
Thanks regards,
T cell
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In adults the thymus gland is very small and a DNA test on the gland itself is not usually done. But a DNA test to test for the HIV virus DNA either in the blood or in the white blood cell circulating in the blood is available.
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3D Animation of how HIV infects human blood cells.
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April 14 2007, 2:51 PM
This is an excellent 3D animation showing all the essential steps on how the HIV virus infects a human T-cell. It also shows how the anti-HIV drugs work.
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