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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.
This question usually refers to how soon after exposure can someone test for HIV. This usually requires waiting 3 to 4 weeks before taking an antibody-based test (see Figure 6). UK guidelines state that 4th generation HIV tests (antigen/antibody) will detect 95% of infections four weeks after exposure. A negative test after four weeks then needs to be confirmed with a second test three months after the risk. This is in case you take longer than four weeks to generate an antibody response.