Each respondent's previous health services utilization was measured by the total number of medical visits recorded in the RAMQ patient file for the 12 months preceding the QHS interview.
In general, antibody tests that use blood can detect HIV slightly sooner after infection than tests done with oral fluid. It can take 3 to 12 weeks (21-84 days) for an HIV-positive personâs body to make enough antibodies for an antibody test to detect HIV infection. This is called the window period.
Updated November 26, 2016. If a person has been exposed to HIV, there is a period by which an HIV test cannot deliver an accurate result. This is called the window period. As HIV tests are designed to detect certain markers for infection, such as antigens and antibodies, it cannot do so until enough of these proteins have been produced in response to the infection.