These are proteins produced by the immune system in response to a foreign substance, such as HIV. HIV tests are based on the detection of antibodies to HIV. Because it is upsetting and disturbing to receive a false positive result, preliminary positive (‘reactive’) results must always be verified with a series of confirmatory tests. While many HIV tests are extremely accurate, they do not achieve 100% accuracy.Ī false positive is a test result that says a person has HIV when, in fact, they do not have it. The ideal HIV screening test would correctly identify all HIV-positive and HIV-negative individuals 100% of the time. A diagnosis of HIV is never made on the basis of a single test result.To ensure accurate diagnosis, a sequence of confirmatory tests is used to verify all reactive results.
In settings where very few people have HIV, a higher proportion of reactive results will be false positives.Tests always produce a small number of false positive results.
