Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Window Period of HIV/STD

The window period is the duration and length of time between infection and the development of specific antibodies to HIV. During the window period people infected with HIV will not yet have develop antibodies in their blood that can be detected by an HIV test.

Each person's body responds to HIV infection a little differently, therefore the window period of HIV infection varies slightly from person to person.

The window period of HIV infection to develop the antibody is about three to four weeks. This period can, however, be longer up to 3 months and in rare cases up to 6 months. Most people generally develop detectable HIV antibodies by current method within 4 to 12 weeks of infection or within 3 months. In very rare cases, in some persons it may take up to 6 months to produce antibodies. The three month window period is normal for most of the population.

During the window periods, an infected person with HIV can transmit the disease to someone else.

The Center of Disease Control definition of window period is 3 months to 6 months.

Window Period of other Sexually Transmitted Disease

The window period or incubation periods of Sexually Transmitted Disease vary from a few days to 6 months. During the window period or incubation period, an infected person with STD’s still can transmit the disease to some one else. In the course of window period the STD test may be negative, therefore recent negative test results may still have an infection that could be transmitted to others.


Gonorrhea
The window period for Gonorrhea is usually 2 to 7 days after the exposure.

Chlamydia
The window or incubation period for Chlamydia is usually 2 to 6 weeks, but can be longer.

Syphilis
The window or incubation period for Syphilis is usually 10 to 90 days.

HIV
The window period for HIV is usually 2 weeks to 3 months, but rarely could be up to 6 months.

Hepatitis A
The incubation period for Hepatitis A is 15 to 50 days.

Hepatitis B
The incubation period for Hepatitis B is usually 45-180 days, with an average of 60 to 90 days.

Hepatitis C
The incubation period for Hepatitis C ranges from 2 weeks to 26 weeks or 6 months - commonly, 6 to 9 weeks.