The only way to know your HIV status is to get tested. Knowing your status gives you powerful information to keep you and your partner healthy. This section answers some of the most common questions about HIV testing, including the types of tests available, where to get tested, and what to expect when you get tested. You can also download materials to share or watch videos on why HIV testing is important.

Should I get tested for HIV?

  1. CDC recommends everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 get tested for HIV at least once.
  2. People at higher risk should get tested more often. If you were HIV-negative the last time you were tested, the test was   more than one year ago, and you can answer yes to any of the following questions, then you should get an HIV test as soon as possible:
    • Are you a man who has had sex with another man?
    • Have you had sex—anal or vaginal—with a partner who has HIV?
    • Have you had more than one sex partner since your last HIV test?
    • Have you injected drugs and shared needles, syringes, or other drug injection equipment (for example, cookers) with others?
    • Have you exchanged sex for drugs or money?
    • Have you been diagnosed with or treated for another sexually transmitted disease?
    • Have you been diagnosed with or treated for hepatitis or tuberculosis (TB)?
    • Have you had sex with someone who could answer yes to any of the above questions or someone whose sexual history you don’t know?
  3. You should be tested at least once a year if you keep doing any of these things. Sexually active gay and bisexual men may benefit from more frequent testing (for example, every 3 to 6 months).
  4. If you’re pregnant, talk to your health care provider about getting tested for HIV and other ways to protect you and your child from getting HIV.
  5. Before having sex for the first time with a new partner, you and your partner should talk about your sexual and drug-use history, disclose your HIV status, and consider getting tested for HIV and learning the results.

I don’t believe I am at high risk. Why should I get tested?

  1. CDC recommends that everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 get tested for HIV at least once as part of routine health care, and more often if you do things that might increase your risk for getting HIV.
  2. Even if you are in a monogamous relationship (both you and your partner are having sex only with each other), you should find out for sure whether you or your partner has HIV.

What kinds of tests are available, and how do they work?

There are three types of tests available: nucleic acid tests (NAT), antigen/antibody tests, and antibody tests. HIV tests are typically performed on blood or oral fluid. They may also be performed on urine.

  1. A NAT looks for the actual virus in the blood and involves drawing blood from a vein. The test can either tell if a person has HIV or tell how much virus is present in the blood (known as an HIV viral load test). While a NAT can detect HIV sooner than other types of tests, this test is very expensive and not routinely used for screening individuals unless they recently had a high-risk exposure or a possible exposure and have early symptoms of HIV infection.
  2. An antigen/antibody test looks for both HIV antibodies and antigens. Antibodies are produced by your immune system when you’re exposed to viruses like HIV. Antigens are foreign substances that cause your immune system to activate. If you have HIV, an antigen called p24 is produced even before antibodies develop. Antigen/antibody tests are recommended for testing done in labs and are now common in the United States. This lab test involves drawing blood from a vein. There is also a rapid antigen/antibody test available that is done with a finger prick.
  3. HIV antibody tests only look for antibodies to HIV in your blood or oral fluid. In general, antibody tests that use blood from a vein can detect HIV sooner after infection than tests done with blood from a finger prick or with oral fluid. Most rapid tests and the only currently approved HIV self-test are antibody tests.
  4. Talk to your health care provider about what type of HIV test is right for you.

How long does it take to get results?

  1. Laboratory tests (NATand antigen/antibody) require blood to be drawn from your vein into a tube and then that blood is sent to a laboratory for testing. The results may take several days to be available.
  2. With a rapid antibody screening test, usually done with blood from a finger prick or with oral fluid, results are ready in 30 minutes or less.
  3. The rapid antigen/antibody test is done with a finger prick and takes 30 minutes or less.
  4. The oral fluid antibody self-test provides results within 20 minutes.

How soon after an exposure to HIV can a test detect if I have the virus?

No HIV test can detect HIV immediately after infection. If you think you’ve been exposed to HIV in the last 72 hours, talk to your health care provider about post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), right away.

The time between when a person may have been exposed to HIV and when a test can tell for sure whether they have the virus is called the window period. The window period varies from person to person and depends on the type of test used to detect HIV. Ask your health care provider or test counselor about the window period for the test you’re taking.

  1. A nucleic acid test (NAT)can usually tell you if you have HIV infection 10 to 33 days after an exposure.
  2. An antigen/antibody test performed by a laboratory on blood from a vein can usually detect HIV infection 18 to 45 days after an exposure. Antigen/ antibody tests done with blood from a finger prick can take longer to detect HIV (18 to 90 days after an exposure).
  3. Antibody tests can take 23 to 90 days to detect HIV infection after an exposure. Most rapid tests and self-tests are antibody tests. In general, antibody tests that use blood from a vein can detect HIV sooner after infection than tests done with blood from a finger prick or with oral fluid.

If you get an HIV test after a potential HIV exposure and the result is negative, get tested again after the window period. Remember, you can only be sure you are HIV-negative if:

  1. Your most recent test is after the window period.
  2. You haven’t had a potential HIV exposure during the window period. If you do have a potential exposure, then you will need to be retested.

Where can I get tested?

In Malaysia, all Health Clinics (KKM) operated by the State Health Departments offer HIV testing. Many medical clinics, substance abuse programs, community health centers, and hospitals offer them too. How will I be tested?

  1. Go to any government health clinic and request for the HIV test
  2. You will be given advice/ counselings regarding the test
  3. The test is easy, simple and painless
  4. The tip of your finger will be pricked and a drop of blood will be taken for the test.
  5. The test result is ready in 15 minutes (using the Rapid Test kit)
  6. If the test result is ‘non-reactive’, you will be given further explanation. If you have risk of getting HIV, you will be advised to repeat the test in 3 to 6 months
  7. If the test result is ‘reactive’, you will be advised to go for the confirmatory test
  8. This service is FREE OF CHARGE.
  9. Your personal details and blood test results will be kept confidential.

You can also buy an HIV self-test at a pharmacy or online, or check to see if the health department or another organization near you is providing a rapid self-test for a reduced cost or for free.

Can I get an HIV test to use at home or in a private location?

Yes. These are known as HIV self-tests. There are two kinds:

  1. A Rapid Self-Test is done entirely at home or in a private location and can produce results within 20 minutes. You can buy a rapid self-test kit at a pharmacy or onlineexternal icon. The only rapid self-test currently available in the US is an oral fluid test.
  2. A Mail-In Self-Test includes a specimen collection kit that contains supplies to collect dried blood from a fingerstick at home. The sample is then sent to a lab for testing and the results are provided by a health care provider. Mail-in self-tests can be ordered through various online merchant sites. Your health care provider can also order a mail-in self-test for you.

Check to see if the health department or other organization near you is providing a rapid self-test for a reduced cost or for free.

What does a positive result mean?

If you use any type of antibody test and have a positive result, you will need another (follow-up) test to confirm your results.

  1. If you test in a community testing program or take a self-test and it’s positive, you should go to a health care provider to get follow-up testing.
  2. If your test is done in a health care setting or a lab and it’s positive, the lab will conduct the follow-up testing, usually on the same blood sample as the first test.

If the follow-up test is also positive, it means you have HIV (or are HIV-positive).

It is important that you start medical care and begin HIV treatment as soon as you are diagnosed with HIV. Antiretroviral therapy or ART (taking medicine to treat HIV infection) is recommended for all people with HIV, regardless of how long they’ve had the virus or how healthy they are. HIV medicine works by lowering the amount of virus in your body to very low levels. HIV medicine can make the viral load so low that a test can’t detect it (called an undetectable viral load). HIV medicine slows the progression of HIV and helps protect your immune system. If you take HIV medicine as prescribed and get and keep an undetectable viral load, you can stay healthy for many years.  Having an undetectable viral load also helps prevent transmitting the virus to others.  For example, if you have an undetectable viral load, you have effectively no risk of transmitting HIV to an HIV-negative partner through sex.

Learn more about being newly diagnosed with HIV and about protecting others.

Receiving a diagnosis of HIV can be life changing. People can feel many emotions—sadness, hopelessness, or anger. Allied health care providers and social service providers, often available at your health care provider’s office, will have the tools to help you work through the early stages of your diagnosis and begin to manage your HIV.

If I test positive for HIV, does that mean I have AIDS?

No. Being HIV-positive does not mean you have AIDS. AIDS is the most advanced stage of HIV disease. HIV can lead to AIDS if a person does not get treatment or take care of their health. But if a person with HIV takes their HIV medicine as prescribed, they may stay healthy for many years, and may never be diagnosed with AIDS.