After you have been HIV infected, it takes on average 25 days for your body to develop enough HIV antibodies for current HIV tests to detect the infection. However, during those first 25 days, the virus replicates uncontrolled, making the individual very infectious while having a negative HIV test. One can imagine why this is a problem; being unaware of their HIV infection people are much more likely to engage in unsafe behavior and therefore are much more likely to spread their infection. But now, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new HIV test that will decrease the time it takes to detect an HIV infection by as much as 20 days. Developed by Abbott, the new test is already in use in Europe where the UK and France use it as their primary test. Because the new test detects HIV infection sooner, the window of time when a person has been infected with HIV and still tests negative will be smaller. This means people will know sooner they have been infected, allowing them to take precautions to prevent spreading the virus to someone else. When available, this test will be another piece in a prevention puzzle that will someday put an end to the spread of HIV. Currently there is no word when the test will be available or how much the test will cost.
Source
DeNoon, D.; "New HIV Test Cuts Window Period"; WebMD Health News; 21 June 2010.
