Can imuran affect an HIV test

[patrick1268]

Does anyone know if Imuran can affect an HIV test?

My HIV 4th gen came back negative.
My GI and PCP both said Imuran will not affect my test.

I am still worried.

Any info would be appreciated

 

[Jennifer]

I'm having the hardest time finding something from a legit website. A few mention high amounts corticoids, high amounts of immunosuppressants and chemotherapy drugs affecting the antibiodies resulting in a false negative yet I can't seen to find actual studies on it for the life of me right now. If nothing else I would definitely be retested and have your doctor use different tests (some test kits can be faulty and will result in a false negative as well, Page 18 http://wwwn.cdc.gov/mpep/pdf/hiv/hiv-1 0607.pdf).

These are from online doctors who say that it's possible:

http://www.aidsvancouver.org/what-we-do/helpline/online/ulcerative-colitis-autoimmune-disorder
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/HIV---Prevention/HIV-Tests/show/1588149

I don't believe that this has anything to do with your initial question but it's another possibility for a false negative.
The loss of HIV-specific antibodies can lead to false-negative results on rapid HIV tests in children and adolescents after successful long-term antiretroviral therapy, according to results presented here at the 51st Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC).

 

[kiny]

naw, I have been tested for HIV, negative

the actual HIV test is extremely accurate

also the HIV test isn't the only thing tested, there's the indication too, which can be

-direct, you slept with someone with HIV
-indirect, your lymphocytes are low, they will then specifically test your B and T cell, if there is T cell lymphopenia, they will test you, usually it is CD4+ deficiency

I have lymphopenia, T cell lymphopenia. Why I don't know and neither do specialists. It's called ideopathic lymphopenia. I do not have HIV, but many people with crohn's disease have lymphopenia, the difference with HIV is that we are stable, our T cells don't drop any lower, it's possible that our T cells are very active in our intestine. We're not low on T cells, they're just not in an area that can be easily measured.