ARC health check and HIV

Alright so this is gonna sound a bit strange but - family history of rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, previous immunization against Hepatitis C. Both cases are known to cause false positives on the EIA tests for HIV antibodies (according to my doctor at home) and that’s just what happens to me (scared the piss out of me the first time). Confirmatory tests (Wetern Blot, PCR) show up negative (whew!).

Anyway - Going to do my health check for ARC next week but I’m worried about getting around this little glitch. Does anyone have any idea what to expect? I did bring reports from home that show the first test being positive and the confirmatory tests being negative. I’ll bring those in but still, I don’t want to deal with any problems so any advice would be welcome as well.

[quote=“vim”]Alright so this is gonna sound a bit strange but - family history of rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, previous immunization against Hepatitis C. Both cases are known to cause false positives on the EIA tests for HIV antibodies (according to my doctor at home) and that’s just what happens to me (scared the piss out of me the first time). Confirmatory tests (Wetern Blot, PCR) show up negative (whew!).

Anyway - Going to do my health check for ARC next week but I’m worried about getting around this little glitch. Does anyone have any idea what to expect? I did bring reports from home that show the first test being positive and the confirmatory tests being negative. I’ll bring those in but still, I don’t want to deal with any problems so any advice would be welcome as well.[/quote]

If you get a false positive for your ARC checkup I belive they let you take it again. But you might want to bring any sort of documents or letters from doctors explaining your concerns.

[quote=“vim”]Alright so this is gonna sound a bit strange but - family history of rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, previous immunization against Hepatitis C. Both cases are known to cause false positives on the EIA tests for HIV antibodies (according to my doctor at home) and that’s just what happens to me (scared the piss out of me the first time). Confirmatory tests (Wetern Blot, PCR) show up negative (whew!).

Anyway - Going to do my health check for ARC next week but I’m worried about getting around this little glitch. Does anyone have any idea what to expect? I did bring reports from home that show the first test being positive and the confirmatory tests being negative. I’ll bring those in but still, I don’t want to deal with any problems so any advice would be welcome as well.[/quote]

I believe it is the standard practice to do Western Blot tests to confirm any positives, so I wouldn’t worry if I were you. According to a doctor friend of mine back in the States who does research on HIV/AIDS, the tests they use in Taiwan are just about up to par with tests in the US.

Thanks for the info… I won’t worry too much bout the false positive part, but I am a bit tense about possible tests for self-medication style pharmaceuticals if ya know what i mean. Say, for example, I had a particular kind of cookie in the recent past - with a butter made nice and spicy with a particular herb. I’ve done some research and as too often happens there’s no real consensus on Forumosa as to whether or not this particular spice is tested for in the health check. Can anyone give me a definitive answer (and before anyone jumps on my case I say “definitive” but I’ll still of course take it with a grain of salt. I am, after all, digging for answers on the infobahn).

Thanks.

Did I really just use the term “infobahn”? If it didn’t sound so boring I’d shoot myself just for that.

i can give you a definitive answer.
they do not test for that particular spice. they est for opiates and amphetamines. however, this years health check form is different from last years. last year i had to pee in a cup, this year i didn’t.

if you can tell me how to put pictures into a post, i’ll be glad to take front and back pictures of this years and last years arc health check forms from ren’ai hospital here in taipei.

Thanks man - I’ll go ahead and cross my fingers I suppose.

As for pics - as far as I know you have to have a place to host the pic - then you just paste the url into an “” tag. If you email me the pics I’ll host em for you. PM me for my realworld email address.

vim

bushibanned is right… they absolutely, positively do NOT test for anything herb related for the ARC health test… a few years back a friend had a visit from his mate Jamaican Bob the weekend before a forgotten ARC check which proved that without doubt…

not just because it’s an expensive test, but also since if they did they’d probably have to deport about 80% of applicants… :noway:

may everyone who worries about this have peace of mind, once and for all.

last year’s medical:

this year’s medical: