WHEN TO PERFORM THE FINAL HIV ANTIBODY-TEST FOLLOWING POSSIBLE EXPOSURE

The senior consultant and senior health adviser in all genitourinary m edicine clinics in the UK were sent a questionnaire on HIV testing pra ctice in seven clinical scenarios. For each scenario the recommended t ime interval between possible exposure and final HIV antibody test var ied from a minimum of 3 months to a maximum of over 5 years. The resul ts show 2 broad patterns: when the contact was not someone known to be HIV positive the commonest recommended time interval was 3 months; fo r a known exposure to HIV the commonest recommendation was 6 months. O nly 16 out of the 151 clinics replying had a written policy setting ou t the interval to elapse between possible exposure to HIV and the fina l test for HIV antibodies. Variation of practice within clinics is les s where written policies exist. Some staff in clinics are recommending inappropriately long intervals before the final HIV test.