What does being HIV positive mean?

What does it mean?   There are several laboratory tests that can be done to detect the presence of HIV in the blood. Being HIV positive means that antibodies were detected in your system after series of laboratory work ups and this also means that you were exposed to the virus and thus you can spread this to other individuals as well. Once a person is found to be HIV positive he or she can pass this to other people particularly sexual partners or if the person happens to be a woman, to her unborn child.   The laboratory tests to confirm antibodies for HIV are most often definitive of diagnosing the disease. These tests are done by getting a sample of the blood of a possible infected person and have this tested in the laboratory for antibodies. The formation of the body’s antibodies is part of its reaction when exposed to foreign microorganisms. When an antigen gets into the system, the body will react and acknowledge the presence of this microorganism and with its innate defenses, will try to form antibodies so as to destroy the presence of the antigen and free the individual from sickness. That is why whenever antibodies for a particular disease is detected in the blood, this means that the person was exposed to this certain illness thus the body formed its antibodies to protect the system. One laboratory test that is known to detect HIV in the blood is the Western Blot Test. Usually when a suspected HIV patient has to have his or her blood tested; this is common...
Source: aids-write.org - Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Tags: featured article Source Type: blogs