A. It's important to dispose of unused medication. To find out how, contact your state health agency or follow U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines for drug disposal.
The HIV test is designed to detect antibodies to HIV in your blood or saliva. Antibodies are proteins produced by your body when you have an infection and they help fight infection. If you are infected with HIV, your body makes very specific antibodies to fight the infection. The HIV antibodies are different from antibodies for the flu, hepatitis, or other infections.
Different Types of HIV Tests. The two types of antibody tests most commonly used to detect HIV infection are the ELISA (enzyme-linked immunoassay) and Western blot tests. These tests are very accurate, but they are only able to detect HIV antibodies and not the HIV virus particle itself. 1  A process is followed to determine if you are HIV positive. 2  First, the ELISA test is performed. 3  If the ELISA test is negative for the detection of HIV antibodies, the test is reported as negative.