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Dr. D. Love
Dr. D. Love, Doctor
Category: Medical
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Experience:  Family Physician for 10 years; Hospital Medical Director for 10 years.
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can asthma medication show up whilst having an hiv test

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hi can asthma medication show up whilst having an hiv test done .but they arnt sure what it is so they send up to london hospital incase it is cancer in the blood all this whilst doing hiv test at a sexual health clinic. my friend told me this happened he said they sent up to london as they found somethink in the hiv test but wasnt sure what it was they thought he was a drug user but he isnt only on asthma meds im thinking my friend is told me lies but this has played on my mind.why does a clinic send blood up to london hospital??and would they think cancer and look for cancer or is this person positive with hiv and lied on it as ashamed
Dr. D. Love
Hello from JustAnswer.

No, an asthma medicine would not show up when performing HIV testing, either by a screening method or a confirmatory test.

The primary reason why the blood would be sent to another lab would be for a confirmatory test called a Western Blot test.

It is standard when performing HIV testing to first perform a screening test. The screening tests will have a fair amount of false positives, but is good to do first because it has an extremely low false negative rate. It is only the people that have a positive screening test that would then need to have additional testing done by the Western Blot method.

Regardless of the HIV test results, there would be no indication to suspect cancer. If the doctor is performing tests for cancer, then there would be another reason for cancer testing to be done.

If I can provide any further information, please let me know.
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Customer: replied 3 years ago.

hi i spoke to the sexuall health clinic and said do you sometimes send blood up to london she said we can depends what we are looking for but wouldnt say what.they have to be confidentiall to the patient i guess so i thought what are they looking for then?? what came up in that blood?? they said somethink came up.apparently they rang my friend asked my friend was he a drug user he said no they said it wasnt hiv but they thought maybe cancer so sent up to london is he hiv then and hidden it??im confused but he rang the clinic in front off me i heard all the results from her say negative to every sexual disease .she did say you had phone call from dr didnt you but i couldnt hear rest off conversation so im confused
They may have done other testing than just HIV testing.
Can your friend say what tests were done beyond HIV testing?
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Customer: replied 3 years ago.

hi no he went to clinic for a full screen sexuall health test only swabs they take and a general hiv test nothing else he went for but somethink came up in the hiv test apparently
The only thing that can come up on an HIV test that would require further testing would be the need to perform the confirmatory test for HIV - the Western Blot test noted above.

If they collected swabs from the genitals, though, then they must have performed tests beyond just the HIV test. The standard HIV tests are done on blood.

On the other hand, some of the HIV screening tests can be done on swabs from the mouth. So if they collected a mouth swab to do a screening HIV test, it may then become necessary to collect blood to send to a reference lab to perform the confirmatory test for HIV.

None of these tests, though, would raise any concern for any condition other than the HIV. If there was a test that raised a concern for another condition, then there must have been another test done.

For example, if there were a urine test done to look for an infection, there may have been cells that were suspicious for cancer, and that would lead the doctor to perform additional testing to determine whether cancer is present.
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Customer: replied 3 years ago.

hi no he had an hiv test done by blood taken from his arm that was the test for his hiv but somethink showed up in it they rang to tell him they said was he drug user and what meds was he on for his general health apparently sent to london incase it was cancer.is this a lie then does he have hiv and not want to say???
It is possible that they are concerned that he may have HIV because of a positive screening test, but they would not be able to say with certainty until the confirmatory test has been completed. They may have asked about drug abuse and other health issues because of risk factors for catching HIV.
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Customer: replied 3 years ago.

hi blood was sent to london after ist hiv test done at at clinic they sent to london apparently my friend said no hiv is he lying?he said the cancer thing they were looking for that was clear to apparently. no cancer found is this all a lie ive been told?? clinic when i made him ring i heard nurse say negative hiv .so if she said negative is he negative then she said negative over phone or is she protecting him??
Your friend may be lying, but he also may be confused or not understand what testing was done. If they are concerned about cancer, then they must have done some test other than HIV testing, even if he does not understand what testing was done.
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Customer: replied 3 years ago.

hi im still awaiting my last question to be answered
I answered that when I said that he may be confused or not understand what testing was done. Either the testing was only for HIV, in which the only additional test would justify being sent to London would be a confirmatory test, or other tests were done. If he is confused or does not understand what testing was done, then it is impossible to know what the staff person meant by what was said.
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Customer: replied 3 years ago.

how would they test his blood for cancer then by a bit off blood??why would nurse say over phone negative.your saying caner woudnt be seen he only had hiv test

They must have done another test. There are many other tests that may indicate a possibility of cancer. Even a blood count may show worrisome cells that would warrant further evaluation. But this is only one test of many and without knowing what test was done, it is impossible to know what result may be worrisome or what further test was ordered.
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