"Antibody tests may give false negative (no antibodies were detected despite HIV being present) results during the window period, an interval of three weeks to six months between the time of HIV infection and the production of measurable antibodies to HIV seroconversion."
HIV tests can give a false negative. In fact, you are more likely to get a false negative than a false positive.
Doctors also perform the test twice, so false positives are rare:
"...the use of repeatedly reactive enzyme immunoassay followed by confirmatory Western blot or immunofluorescent assay remains the standard method for diagnosing HIV-1 infection...With confirmatory Western blot, the chance of a false-positive identification in a low-prevalence setting is about 1 in 250 000 (95% CI, 1 in 173 000 to 1 in 379 000)."
Even in the very rare instances in which someone with immunodeficiency gets a false positive on an HIV test (which will be less than 1 in 250 000), a doctor will not simply let someone die. Most likely they will continue to monitor the case and, when the patient shows symptoms that are inconsistent with AIDS, the doctor will realize that the patient has some other medical condition.
That being said, it's entirely possible that mistakes will be made. But only very rarely when the tests are done properly. This does not make the tests "stupid".
Nice post :]
I always wonder how are they counting it.
Anyway, I guess it doesn't count situations when HIV tests are positive because of another disease.
