Exact Answer: 72 Hours
Today, as medical science has grown a lot from its roots, every kind of disease in the world has been detected or at least a variant originating from those diseases has been found by trained professionals across the world’s health centers.
Finding a disease aids the medical community in finding a cure so that the disease does not spread and become a problem in the future.
One of these diseases is the HIV virus, which is spread through sexual contact with an infected person or by sharing syringes with an infected person; the virus enters the body and can cause the immune system to deteriorate; if this occurs, the person is infected and has AIDS.
How Long After HIV Infection Can it be Detected?
HIV is a virus that enters the person’s body via sexual intercourse with the infected person and sharing the medical syringes used for injecting drugs is the major cause of AIDS.
The HIV virus is a virus variant that can completely destroy a person’s immunity, causing mouth and ulcers as common symptoms. Fatigue, high fever, night sweat, etc. These are the symptoms that can help the person know about the introduction of HIV. HIV is a virus that cannot be cured and stays in the body forever but is controllable using the medicine. If not controlled, it can cause AIDS and completely destroy the immune system.
The HIV virus cannot be detected within a few hours of exposure, and the person must wait at least 72 hours for symptoms to appear and the medical report to show a positive test. The time between exposure and the test is referred to as a time window, and it can vary depending on many factors, most notably the test was chosen.
HIV enters the human body within three stages and can be controlled easily in the early stages. The first stage is acute HIV. At this stage, the body consists of a lot of HIVS in the blood and the symptoms start to show up in the person and enter into the time window.
The second stage is chronic HIV, in which HIV can be spread by these people through common methods, but the HIV in the body is produced at a very low level, but it is still found to be contagious and medical attention is required.
The last stage is AIDS. That is the most dangerous form and can completely destroy the immune system and cause severe illness.
| Type of Test | Time Window |
| Nuclei Acid Test | 10 to 30 Days |
| Antigen Test | 18 to 90 Days |
| Antibody Test | 23 to 80 Days |
Why Does it Take so Long for HIV to get Detected?
There are a lot of factors that can contribute to the extension of the time window that the disease may not be detected within the minimum time frame due to many factors, like the type of test, carried out and previous medical history.
There are many tests that are present that can be used to detect the presence of HIV in the body and every test carries a time limit before it can detect the virus. The first test is the nucleic acid test that is carried out by extracting the nucleus from the virus and can take 18 days to detect after the test.
The second test is the antibody test that is carried out using a drop of blood and can detect HIV within 45 days of exposure to HIV. The third test is the antibody test. This kind of test is the fastest and the most reliable to show the presence of the HIV virus and can take at least 23 days.
The most important consideration is your personal medical history. Because many diseases are similar and the most common symptoms, such as fever, have a large time window, a person suffering from a series of diseases may take a long time to recognize the introduction of the virus.
But if there is no medical history, then the symptoms can match and the person can get a test to be sure about the exposure. The HIV virus can only be detected via a medical test and there are no other alternatives.
Conclusion
The HIV virus, which was discovered in the 1800s, is a virus that is transmitted through sexual contact with an infected person and the sharing of common syringes. The HIV virus enters the body and can progress through all three stages.
The first and most obvious stage is acute HIV. The second stage is chronic HIV and the last and the most dangerous is AIDS, which is derived from HIV. The HIV virus can be detected after 72 hours. If the test is carried out before that, then the virus can not be detected.
The type of test and previous medical history are two major factors that can cause a difference in the time window.