3rd International Conference on Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Infections and AIDS

A false-positive HIV test occurs when a test incorrectly indicates that a person has contracted the    virus. Receiving a false positive can inspire conflicting feelings. People may wonder what they can  or  should do next. In this article, we suggest some next steps for people who have had false-positive HIV test results. We also provide detailed information about the HIV testing process. A person knows that they have had a false positive when an initial test indicated that they had HIV but a follow-up test was negative. A false positive typically results from the test incorrectly identifying non-HIV antibodies as HIV antibodies. What to do after a false-positive result After receiving the initial result, the healthcare provider will perform an additional test to ensure that the result is accurate. If the second result is also positive, it confirms the presence of HIV. In this case, a healthcare provider will provide sup...

The New England Journal of Medicine  tweeted the most recent addition to its photo series  of the most visually arresting medical anomalies. The image is of a mysterious, branchlike structure that, posted elsewhere, would probably pass for a cherry-red chunk of some underground root system or a piece of bright reef coral. But this is no creature of the deep. It’s a completely intact, six-inch-wide clot of human blood in the exact shape of the right bronchial tree, one of the two key tubular networks that ferry air to and from the lungs. And it was coughed up in one piece. The clot is beautiful, and it’s also kind of gross. The tweet received a slew of replies from those frightened that the photo showed an actual coughed-up lung, which is about as likely to happen  as your brain falling out of your butt. But even the doctors who treated the 36-year-old man who produced the clot aren’t entirely sure how it could have emerged without breaking. Georg Wiesel...