Living with HIV in the Philippines: "How Can That Be?"

Hi,

My husband recently took GAMCA medical exam for he is supposed to work in a Middle East country, according to the GAMCA clinic referred to him, he needed a repeat of some blood tests due to some problem, so he went back only to find out that it was for a repeat of HIV test/screening because the first result was reactive. Confident that it was
all a mistake, my husband allowed the repeat just to get it over with. But the repeat showed another reactive result (reactive 1.11). he was told that they (the GAMCA clinic) would take another sample of his blood to be taken to DOH for confirmatory tests. but it will take another 3-4 weeks to get the result.

Now our concern is this, we are questioning all these results because we are sure that this is not possible, My husband and I have been together for 20 years, we NEVER had sex with other people whether male, female or even LGBT before us and on the 20 years that we are together. We had 3 children. We are faithful to each other. WE ARE SURE OF THAT. We NEVER had blood transfusion. We NEVER did or will ever do drugs of any kind. We were born of healthy HIV free parents. So how can it be possible that those results are reactive? Please enlighten us because we don't know anything about HIV/AIDS other than it's mode of transmission. We are so puzzled by this because we really can't believe this is happening. In fact we have always believed that HIV/AIDS is the last disease that we can ever acquire considering the lifestyle that we are living. Thank you.

Mommy

POZZIEPINOY’S RESPONSE

Hi Mommy.

Thank you for your email. Thank you for reading the blog.

Nowadays, the rapid test or screening HIV test in the Philippines, done in HIV testing clinics and hospitals, is very sensitive to HIV antibodies and can be considered to be more than 90% accurate. Of course the Department of Health requires a final confirmatory test of the blood test using the Western Blot test that is being done in San Lazaro Hospital to be absolutely sure of the HIv status of the person.

From what you shared to me and my readers, if you both are very sure of that you guys don't have any possible exposure to HIV, you may want to go and seek a consultation with an infectious disease doctor so everything can be explained to both you. You may also want to get a second HIV test to calm your mind. However, you may want to wait for the final result of the confirmatory test as that is very specific and will finally an answer to all your questions.

You may also want to call our HIV counselors in our Hotline Numbers below to get a better understanding of this scenario.

0919-642-9286

0977-131-2046

0906-389-2402

0917-899-0473

0927-823-0300

0917-932-3122

0916-216-2066

I know you guys are worried about the future and especially your husband's career, however, either you do what I tell you to do or just wait for the confirmatory to finally get the answer.

I hope I was able to answer your concerns. Feel free to email me again if you have other questions.

Stay healthy,

Pozziepinoy

"We act FAST when we CARE"

-Pozziepinoy-

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