The HIV test kits can sometimes give a false result. That is, it may indicate that you are HIV positive but you are not.
Such cases have been reported and still continue to happen. Basically, there are varied reasons behind it and the causes range from mislabeled samples to certain infections.
On this piece, we will mention the causes and how they contribute to false positive results.
Biologically, a body will start producing antibodies when infected with HIV. The antibodies (protein) attach to the virus and tries to wreck and damage it.
Normally, HIV tests are exclusively designed to detect antibodies to HIV. The test looks for these antibodies in which after detecting them, it shows a positive result.
The key cause of false positive results, apparently, is the test has detected antibodies not to HIV but a different infection. This usually happens even though the test is programmed to identify antibodies produced in response to HIV virus invasion.
A person may have antibodies to another infection which may give a false positive result. You better have another test as illuminated by Daniel Murrell, M.D, a disease specialist.
The other reason could be that you used a mislabeled sample, maybe the buffer, mixed up with someones. A clerical and technical error could also lead to a false positive result.
People who had recently been given a flu vaccine can also cause false positive results. People suffering from autoimmune disease are likely to give the same result.