Shut the Fuck Up with Hank Philpot Episode 2

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKtX3Ft6zfUCCyDJ9iMIeXlV4X0iyMsnGqqwduqk0VDd8lZW-3iEZbJbGAWXAQXoAm_Sc-USmC7wvSRUj_cwKN_XCZtKyvEz7VvaZguOEpGsCYUXipHaN847cBllKbwe52iY5D-uNYKVQ/s1600/Angry-Man-Hank+Philpot+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKtX3Ft6zfUCCyDJ9iMIeXlV4X0iyMsnGqqwduqk0VDd8lZW-3iEZbJbGAWXAQXoAm_Sc-USmC7wvSRUj_cwKN_XCZtKyvEz7VvaZguOEpGsCYUXipHaN847cBllKbwe52iY5D-uNYKVQ/s400/Angry-Man-Hank+Philpot+(1).jpg" width="400" /></a>Hello.  Hank Philpot here.  I’m a friend of Matt-Man.  I was going off on some things the other day to him and he said I could write down my bitches about the world today on this blog thing.<br /><br />He told me that today, I could consider the IWS blog to be my, tablet razor or something like that.  I don’t know what he meant by that, but here I am….Hank Philpot.<br /><br />Now listen, this basketball coach at Rutgers, Mike Rice?  It seems he’s in a boatload of trouble.<br /><br />I guess he was trying to get his Scarlet Knights of Rutgers basketball team in shape for the season and he was too hard on the God Damn pansies.<br /><br />He threw basketballs at them…He pushed them…He called them faggots…Well let me tell you…<br /><br />My father used to beat me on the ass with a bolo paddle for calling my sister a whore, and my Drill Sergeant, Gunny Sarge Buck Masters used to stick a bayonet up my ass for being three seconds late to a drill.<br /><br />Don’t give me this, <i>“He was too hard on those basketball boys, shit.”</i>  Shut the Fuck Up!!<br /><br />Coach Rice just wanted them to be ready for when they played big time schools with darkies who play with one hand on the ball and another hand carrying a switchblade.<br /><br />If you can’t see that, well…you can’t see that your 12 year old is boy probably gonna turn out to be a gay bastard who views Rachel Maddow as the man that Chris Hayes wishes he could be.<br /><br />It’s just wrong, and if you don’t agree…<i>Shut the Fuck Up!!</i><br /><br />And now that I have invoked the names of people who appear on MSNBC have you seen the following..?<br /><br />Alex Wagner…Cute as hell…I’d take her down and pluck her in my chicken coop anytime, but man she opens her pretentious mouth, and I say, <i>“Shut the Fuck up.”</i><br /><br />And then there is Mika Brzezinski, liberal star of Morning Joe on MSNBC…Jesus Christ…That chick has been riding on the coat tails of her dad since, well…ever since her dad helped Jimmy Carter to become irrelevant.  But in all fairness, her dad has a thick accent so, that makes him smart.<br /><br />Mika has no accent, so….well…her stupidity shines through.  You know what I have to say about that?<br /><br />Mika?  You’re not bright!!  <i>So shut the fuck up!!</i><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicyAFqQI3Z34j5No4XjM7muumfvZNvMbJ972uB4Pwo4zKy6B_21Z_H7z_q8IVd6Al_m4HW_iO-hECLx556ZSOxasn-O6u6N2J66R8oi2BEH3VHB5uDcf5K0jk6mQh0oguYCnV2caavnYo/s1600/martin-bashir_msnbc-600_arrogance-stupidity-300x200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicyAFqQI3Z34j5No4XjM7muumfvZNvMbJ972uB4Pwo4zKy6B_21Z_H7z_q8IVd6Al_m4HW_iO-hECLx556ZSOxasn-O6u6N2J66R8oi2BEH3VHB5uDcf5K0jk6mQh0oguYCnV2caavnYo/s400/martin-bashir_msnbc-600_arrogance-stupidity-300x200.jpg" width="400" /></a>Oh people. Some are coming around to our gun-toting, God-Loving side…<br /><br />I was told by a devout quasi-Catholic, yet somewhat agnostic, religion reporting guy this week that he hates Martin Bashir as well…<br /><br />And why shouldn’t he?<br /><br />Sure...Martin Bashir stands tall among his fellow Christ Haters, in all of his MSNBC, London born Pakistani glory in a tight knit seersucker suit coat talking in his condescending UK accent to Americans, while aggrandizing about our hate for foreigners, but...you know what Mr. Pak Man?<br /><br /><i>Shut the Fuck Up!!</i><br /><br />Sure…We can let the children in, but then?  We should eat them!!  I hear that that is what they do in those types of heathen countries from which you came illegally!!<br /><br />You know what, Mr. Bashir?<br /><br /><i>Shut the Fuck Up!!</i><br /><i><br /></i><i>Cheers!!</i><br /><i><br /></i>Matt-Man<br /><br /><a href="mailto:mattmaniws@ymail.com">mattmaniws@ymail.com</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/MattMan_IWS" target="_blank">@mattman_iws</a></div>

Shut the Fuck Up with Hank Philpot Episode 2

Hello.  Hank Philpot here.  I’m a friend of Matt-Man.  I was going off on some things the other day to him and he said I could write down my...

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Combat: Ant and Roach Killer Review

<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj4UbkAKfFIeML4omJZXMr8Q-ndUKgQ318ROFky2y1yHrxWKDlqeByqiOYoAOTo7qRmoEsSIfx2R4z9vMvU0e1yzAce81NMTN3ALm6u5KzBZ-E-8wYTMaUfC0qx54Uc2I0cIoXVQghHwI/s1600/ants+marching.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj4UbkAKfFIeML4omJZXMr8Q-ndUKgQ318ROFky2y1yHrxWKDlqeByqiOYoAOTo7qRmoEsSIfx2R4z9vMvU0e1yzAce81NMTN3ALm6u5KzBZ-E-8wYTMaUfC0qx54Uc2I0cIoXVQghHwI/s1600/ants+marching.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's almost that time of year again when the weather starts to change and you cook outside out on the grill and have picnics in the park or even on a beach.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That's when the ants or roaches are on a picnic of their own even inside the house as well as outside! </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's crazy, so you spend all of this money for an exterminator.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Why not try bait strips!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What are bait strips you ask?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiNdAsd5_SRlssUr4WDhNysuICh1ANN-iVhXk5TqNv5Z67ejsvAffm_BMhgDfSKq_Xs05h0y89-fifFiiSCfEyXUD5-9aW9xa_BkIpm4WEEhCKH4n2jy8JtkpbvYhI2lvNkdqwEv36K1U/s1600/combat+and+roach+killer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiNdAsd5_SRlssUr4WDhNysuICh1ANN-iVhXk5TqNv5Z67ejsvAffm_BMhgDfSKq_Xs05h0y89-fifFiiSCfEyXUD5-9aW9xa_BkIpm4WEEhCKH4n2jy8JtkpbvYhI2lvNkdqwEv36K1U/s320/combat+and+roach+killer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's the new innovative product that I received courtesy of Combat and Purex Insider for review.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The strip is known to stop the entire colony in it's tracks of ants or roaches and destroys them.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The best thing about this product is that it's easy to apply, kills fast and doesn't even leave a mess.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFNIMHaG1pWWZxNdPYIq9bcfxEdkZFX00PK29OGMPGb43tmMvbwUdcJSSqoymA9o5gtMZhDLGj4ubCj-ynjtrdLQhcg5eIv90hPag34AenpW_4DYrgsNWC_S9KTa7rYPOtG9jAlrS9p1w/s1600/ant+strips.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFNIMHaG1pWWZxNdPYIq9bcfxEdkZFX00PK29OGMPGb43tmMvbwUdcJSSqoymA9o5gtMZhDLGj4ubCj-ynjtrdLQhcg5eIv90hPag34AenpW_4DYrgsNWC_S9KTa7rYPOtG9jAlrS9p1w/s320/ant+strips.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How does it work?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They will find the bait strip, eat the bait and bring it back to the nest and it will then destroy the entire nest by being exposed to the bait and voila problem solved!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>

Combat: Ant and Roach Killer Review

It's almost that time of year again when the weather starts to change and you cook outside out on the grill and have picnics in the park...

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Soft Scrub: 4 in 1 toilet bowl cleaner review and giveaway

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Winners are Apla Ash, June and Prettymamita! Congrats! </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Stay tuned for more giveaways! </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3cdV5xVcbrqd6D-0zVexUUcO-3C_qCtDSpShyVBPem5z5_OF9eXOBPw4XPGPTbjN6tIrjo-ujM-zhyphenhyphenpDro5-F3-mf1R30ZeIYQOvRBae4CgHjvAp1KotdHUy_tz5qqVG7WS9hJGh38k0/s1600/soft+scrub+4in1+toilet+bowl+cleaner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3cdV5xVcbrqd6D-0zVexUUcO-3C_qCtDSpShyVBPem5z5_OF9eXOBPw4XPGPTbjN6tIrjo-ujM-zhyphenhyphenpDro5-F3-mf1R30ZeIYQOvRBae4CgHjvAp1KotdHUy_tz5qqVG7WS9hJGh38k0/s320/soft+scrub+4in1+toilet+bowl+cleaner.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cleaning toilets can be a hassle especially when you get those nasty rings inside of the bowl. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Soft Scrub sent me this outstanding new product and it's a four in one toilet bowl cleaner.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What's that do you ask? It handles everything so you don't need to use tons of cleaning products to do the job.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's used to prevent buildup, cleans toilet, fights toilet rings and has lasting freshness up to four weeks! </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How does it work?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All you do is take the toilet bowl rim hanger and hang it on the inside of the toilet and releases the powerful cleaning solution with each flush!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cleaning the toilet has never been this easy before, thanks Purex Insider and Soft Scrub!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have 3 coupons to give away to 3 lucky readers for a free soft scrub product!</span><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>*GIVEAWAY RULES*</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>1. What's the most important thing you look for in a toilet bowl cleaner? </b></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>here are some examples.</b></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>price, freshness lasts longer, prevents toilet rings etc.</b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Want an extra entry?</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>2.  Must Follow my blog.</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>3.Then also follow me via Twitter, here. <a href="https://twitter.com/kelli_bliss" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;"> https://twitter.com/kelli_bliss</a></b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>4. then Re tweet my post about the giveaway and if you tweet on your own make sure you use #4-in-1ToiletCare</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>5. leave me a link here to your tweet.</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>6. Like their face book page as well </b></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><div style="color: black; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/SoftScrub?fref=ts"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">https://www.facebook.com/SoftScrub?fref=ts</span></a></div><div style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="color: black; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Due to FCC Rules:</u></span></span></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Soft Scrub brand provided me with a sample of their 4-in one toilet bowl cleaner in exchange for a review,however all opinions expressed here are my own.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>

Soft Scrub: 4 in 1 toilet bowl cleaner review and giveaway

Winners are Apla Ash, June and Prettymamita! Congrats!  Stay tuned for more giveaways!  Cleaning toilets can be a hassle especially when you...

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Foxy!

I met my sister for coffee after work tonight and then took a lovely stroll along the canal.<br /><br />After that I dropped my sister to the station for her train. Amy was a little early so we sat and chatted up the road from the station. Suddenly we saw a fox run across the road and then disappear in to the bushes. A fox in Dublin City!!! Amazing! What a great sight.<br /><br />Check out this crazy big spider I found in my house! <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjsfZOLLcqux10iQeRGZ4H5fvVx5E15heIScTaEt-mdHPGKTlXgbUGioSNfVi_FZJaMIipAeihuBVBcIyDrm6fEq849vf5Z-e54xVg-p1eLVQdcPFtBH-FEHHXahJ3mfMyvb9IrkTwbbBF/s640/blogger-image-1666559542.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjsfZOLLcqux10iQeRGZ4H5fvVx5E15heIScTaEt-mdHPGKTlXgbUGioSNfVi_FZJaMIipAeihuBVBcIyDrm6fEq849vf5Z-e54xVg-p1eLVQdcPFtBH-FEHHXahJ3mfMyvb9IrkTwbbBF/s640/blogger-image-1666559542.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf5dRJQjJojX7vzSA6f4GEs3ItYTlShCJogKHbB1bPDEceZHNYhRkc9upqMrfHWoCsQogUEBQNM3UjeylmgjWdjEVfrVBW-QvHhQh5edyKioizOObeN-t9q3f52-gsJ6TeAgAuDNU7piZP/s640/blogger-image-1045267214.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf5dRJQjJojX7vzSA6f4GEs3ItYTlShCJogKHbB1bPDEceZHNYhRkc9upqMrfHWoCsQogUEBQNM3UjeylmgjWdjEVfrVBW-QvHhQh5edyKioizOObeN-t9q3f52-gsJ6TeAgAuDNU7piZP/s640/blogger-image-1045267214.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE7zD7N1_AeTvM3_jheZrSTsELdDrVhCUp6Vq-pPJkVukibf-2p42fyTJf6fv3aOo7t7ULUgZ-tysiCXSYdivq9aTScxxjhSV5nqcHvjjAZVJIf-ZgCdM6T0B3NXzKLiYolWXpuYy3UNOi/s640/blogger-image-1858417359.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE7zD7N1_AeTvM3_jheZrSTsELdDrVhCUp6Vq-pPJkVukibf-2p42fyTJf6fv3aOo7t7ULUgZ-tysiCXSYdivq9aTScxxjhSV5nqcHvjjAZVJIf-ZgCdM6T0B3NXzKLiYolWXpuYy3UNOi/s640/blogger-image-1858417359.jpg" /></a></div>

Foxy!

I met my sister for coffee after work tonight and then took a lovely stroll along the canal. After that I dropped my sister to the station f...

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The Week I Had HIV - Slate Magazine

<base href="data:" class=""><div style="color: black; text-align: left; " class=""><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">"You should go ahead and assume that you have HIV," the doctor said.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">It was just before 7 on a frigid January evening. I was alone in my apartment in Washington, D.C.; I hadn't been expecting a call from the doctor. Several weeks earlier, I had come down with a fever and spent a good week laid up in bed. When I finally called my primary care physician, whom I'd chosen only a month earlier due to his proximity to my apartment, his receptionist signed me up for the next available appointment, which was a week away. Desperate, I went to a hospital, then an urgent care center, where a doctor suspected some kind of infection and prescribed a hefty dose of antibiotics. Within a few days, my fever had faded, but I decided to keep my appointment regardless. My new doctor, whom I'll call Dr. Smith, gave me a checkup, drew blood, and promised to run a full panel of tests. I hadn't realized that HIV would be one of them.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">I realized it now. "Your ELISA test went up to positive," Dr. Smith told me, "so it triggered a Western Blot, and that came back indeterminate. Let me tell you what that means. You're probably early on in your infection, so it's not showing completely yet. But these results, in my experience, always indicate HIV positivity. Why don't you come in tomorrow morning and we can get an RNA test and a confirmation?"</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">"A confirmation," I asked, "that I have HIV?"</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">"Yes," the doctor said. "We should definitely assume right now that you have HIV."</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">This assumption would be proven false after a week—a week of anxiety, anger, and, most of all, confusion. My HIV test showed indications of early infection, signs portentous enough to prompt a doctor to diagnose me on the spot. Yet as I received more tests and more information, it became increasingly clear that Dr. Smith's verdict was a misdiagnosis—that I did not have HIV.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">How can a test so common, so regulated, so accurate fail? How could I, a healthy adult with virtually no risk of infection, be misdiagnosed with HIV? And if it could happen to me, who else could it happen to?</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Most HIV tests don't test for HIV. Rather, the primary diagnostic tool, an immunoassay, tests for antibodies that react to HIV. (Earlier generations of immunoassays were called ELISAs, pronounced "Eliza"; most immunoassays today are a newer generation called EIAs, but many doctors still call them ELISAs as shorthand.) The immune system floods the body with these antibodies soon after HIV infection as it attempts, in vain, to fight off the virus.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">If an immunoassay test turns up HIV-related antibodies, it's considered "reactive." But a reactive immunoassay is not considered proof of an HIV infection. It must be followed up with a confirmatory test, usually a Western Blot. These tests also search for antibodies, but rather than turning "reactive" or "nonreactive," they detect about 10 different "viral bands." These bands are specific antibodies that bind to different components of the virus. If a Western Blot turns up two or more reactive bands, the patient is considered HIV-positive. If it turns up one band or several "equivocal" bands, the test is considered "indeterminate" and should be run again in about a month.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">That monthlong wait speaks to perhaps the most insidious aspect of the AIDS virus: It hides. After infection, the virus conceals itself completely for about 10 days—the so-called "eclipse period." (A person in the eclipse period is almost certainly not infectious.) Once that phase ends, the virus begins attacking the immune system, provoking the antibodies detectable by immunoassays and Western Blot tests. Yet the process of producing antibodies takes time, and so there is an additional "window period" between antibody production and immunoassay reactivity. For today's fourth-generation tests, the time between infection and detectability is about 15 days; for third-generation tests, some of which are still used, it's 25; second- and first-generation tests need 50 to 60 days of infection to detect any antibodies. Western Blots require about two months of infection before turning positive.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">This period of undetectability also happens to be the most highly infectious phase of the disease. Between 30 and 50 percent of all HIV transmissions occur during the window period. Thus, it presents perhaps the greatest challenge to combatting HIV: How can a highly infectious person be stopped from spreading the virus if he can't know he has it?</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">I received a third-generation immunoassay, which measured an antibody level of 1.23, just faintly reactive. (A level below 1.00 is considered nonreactive.) Following protocol, the lab then ran a Western Blot, which turned up "indeterminate." Dr. Smith told this to me when I went into the office the following morning. I asked for further explanation.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="pagebreak section"></div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'"><a name="pagebreak_anchor_2" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; visibility: hidden; " class=""></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; display: inline !important; float: none; " class=""></span></font><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">"Well," he said, looking at my lab report, "it's actually kind of a funny result. You have two nonviral bands but no viral ones. I've actually never seen a case like this."</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">"Could that mean I don't have HIV?" I asked.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">"Probably not," he told me. "It probably means you're just seroconverting."</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Seroconversion occurs during the window period of infection, when HIV attacks the immune system and it responds with antibodies. It is sometimes—though not always—accompanied by flu-like symptoms, such as high fever, respiratory distress, bodily aches, and night sweats. Seroconversion, in other words, is a hypochondriac's worst nightmare, masking a deadly virus with fairly routine symptoms. One distinction between seroconversion and a standard flu is swollen lymph nodes, a frequent symptom of acute HIV infection. But these can also be caused by a variety of other maladies.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">"You said you were sick recently, right?" Dr. Smith continued. "Had a fever? That may well have been seroconversion. If so, you'll test a true positive soon."</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">I had, in fact, learned about seroconversion the previous week, when a different doctor had floated the idea—just possibly because I am gay. When my fever refused to budge after a week, my boyfriend took me to the hospital, where I was hooked up to a saline drip and given a battery of (inconclusive) tests. After I introduced the doctor to my boyfriend, a strange look came over her face and she excused herself. About an hour later, she came back, pulled the curtain closed, and sat down next to my bed.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">"Before you go, one last possibility to consider is HIV," she said. "You do have a fever, which can be a symptom of acute HIV infection. It's called seroconversion."</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Somewhat alarmed, I asked if any of my other symptoms matched up.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">"No," she conceded. "Your lymph nodes are normal, and you don't have any respiratory issues. But still," she continued, lowering her voice and glancing toward my boyfriend, "it's something to consider."</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Floating such a drastic diagnosis may sound like an overreaction, but in fact, the doctor was merely following generally accepted guidelines for HIV diagnosis. The CDC considers homosexuality <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/testing/resources/reports/hiv_prevalence/high-risk.htm" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; " class="">high-risk</a> in and of itself. Being monogamous and practicing safe sex doesn't matter much when you're a "man who has sex with men." What matters is your demographic. And my demographic makes me a likely vector for HIV.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Nine days after my visit to the hospital, my HIV test came back indeterminate.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Indeterminate Western Blot tests are a rare but intractable problem. Because they're used only as confirmatory tests, Western Blots have been the subject of much less technological advancement than immunoassays; it's more important to detect likely HIV than to confirm it beyond doubt. Some doctors and scientists see no place for Western Blots in the future of HIV testing; in fact, a few labs have begun to phase them out in favor for RNA tests. These search the blood for the virus itself, and have the immeasurable benefit of detecting HIV within only 15 days of infection. It is precisely because of this sensitivity and complexity, however, that RNA tests are rarely used as the first confirmation test: They remain prohibitively expensive for most labs and patients.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="pagebreak section"></div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'"><a name="pagebreak_anchor_3" style="color: rgb(0, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; visibility: hidden; " class=""></a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; display: inline !important; float: none; " class=""></span></font><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">There are a number of reasons why a Western Blot could be indeterminate. Most indeterminate results arise from medical conditions that affect a patient's blood. Pregnancy, for instance, can cause a Western Blot to find traces of one viral band, called P-24. Autoimmune disorders can cause other viral bands to show up, as can the flu vaccine. Most of the time, these bands disappear in follow-up tests. If they don't but no further bands show up, the indeterminate result should be considered negative.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">But there's another kind of indeterminate result, one so rare that Dr. Smith had never seen or even heard about it. This result indicates the detection of nonviral bands. These signal an error in the test itself. To run a Western Blot test, lab technicians grow HIV in a cell culture, isolate parts of the virus called antigens, and then expose them to a patient's blood serum. If the patient is HIV-positive, antibodies in his blood serum react to certain antigens, producing viral bands. But very rarely, the test can malfunction: Lab technicians may insufficiently purify HIV, allowing debris from the cell culture as well as antigens to be exposed to the blood serum. In turn, this debris—rather than the HIV antigens—may react with antibodies. The result: nonviral bands.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">These bands do not indicate the presence of HIV. They don't even hint at it. In 1999, the National Confirmatory Testing Laboratory of the American Red Cross suggested that Western Blots with nonviral bands be considered immediate negatives, since "no individual exhibiting non-viral banding has been associated with either seroconversion detection of different HIV subtypes or other disease agents." The same year, the Association of Public Health laboratories stated that "non-viral bands should not be required to be reported [because] since 1991 no individual exhibiting non-viral banding has been associated with either early seroconversion, detection of different HIV-I subtypes, or other disease agents." And in 2000, the Blood Products Advisory Committee of the FDA proposed that nonviral band indeterminate Western Blots be considered completely HIV-negative, and thus safe to use in blood donations.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">All of these groups recognized the same fact: Nonviral bands show up as a result of a lab error, not a blood infection. Yet none of their recommendations were ever taken. Many doctors are unaware of the nonviral bands and think them to be a sign of early seroconversion. Because the problem is so rare, it has attracted little research or attention from the press. When a patient receives this anomalous result, he is usually thrust into the formal process of an HIV diagnosis.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">There are several ways to tell a patient he has HIV. Some doctors refuse to tell patients over the phone, choosing instead to make an appointment and tell them in person so they can quell the patient's panic and ask crucial follow-up questions. Others, however, believe that calling a patient and simply asking him to come in to discuss an HIV test is an obvious giveaway of an unwanted result, and that the news should simply be broken immediately, over the phone. This method has the benefit of ensuring that the patient knows his status whether or not he ever follows up. Rapid test immunoassays are quickly solving this conundrum: Clinicians can tell a patient his status in only 20 minutes. Rapid tests are popular in public health clinics but are not yet widely used by most primary care doctors, and so for now, the quandary remains.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Dr. Smith gave me his diagnosis over the phone and scheduled an appointment for the next morning. I spent that evening frozen in terror and confusion: There was simply no way, so far as I could see, that I could have been exposed to HIV. When I told my boyfriend, he was equally baffled: We each dug up the paperwork from our last two HIV tests, both of which were unambiguously negative. Nothing had occurred between those tests and this new one that could have exposed either of us to HIV. But this knowledge did little to allay the panic. We did not sleep that night.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">The next morning at my appointment, Dr. Smith reiterated his strong suspicion that I was early into HIV infection and drew blood for a confirmatory RNA test. But he also suggested a rapid test immunoassay, which, by that point, should have turned positive. I sat for 20 minutes waiting for a second line to appear: Rapid tests contain colloidal gold, which reacts to HIV antibodies by producing a red line on a small screen.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">As I waited for the test result, I began to think about what my life with HIV would look like. The virus, of course, is no longer a death sentence; those who have it can still live long, happy, mostly healthy lives. Moreover, the stigma once attached to HIV has largely dissipated, as HIV-positive people have rejected victim-blaming and empowered themselves both in their medical treatment and in the respect and decency they demand from society. The Internet provides myriad <a href="http://www.thebody.com/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; " class="">resources</a> for those living with the infection, and virtual <a href="http://www.hivaidstribe.com/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(86, 129, 140); text-decoration: none; " class="">support groups</a> foster a sense of community. No one has to face HIV alone, and no one should feel ashamed about being HIV-positive. If I did have HIV, I decided, I would not let it destroy my life. But I would much rather not have HIV.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">After 20 interminable minutes, no second red line showed up on my test—a negative result. My confusion grew deeper, though my spirits started to lift. I had now received one positive, one indeterminate, and one negative HIV test. I still didn't like my odds. But the situation seemed slightly brighter than it had the night before. Six days later, I received mailed lab results from the urgent care clinic. Unbeknownst to me, they had run a highly sensitive immunoassay—and it was completely negative. My blood was not testing positive for HIV. The immediate sensation was not one of comfort, or even relief. It was bewilderment. Nothing that had happened to me seemed to make sense. And when it abruptly stopped happening, that made little sense, either.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Finally, more than two weeks later, my RNA test came back negative. Dr. Smith didn't explain the delay—the test takes less than a week—nor did he attempt to explain his original misdiagnosis.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">"I have no idea why the Western Blot was indeterminate," he said. "But we should run one more immunoassay."</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">He ran one more immunoassay. It came back negative.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">In all, I received six HIV tests in the span of less than a month. Without insurance, the process would have cost more than $2,000; an RNA test alone is about $500. Had the recommendations of the Confirmatory Testing Laboratory, the Association of Public Health laboratories, and the Blood Products Advisory Committee been adopted more than a decade ago, I could have avoided the entire experience. My indeterminate test was the result of a lab error; nonviral Western Blots always are. For the foreseeable future, patients who receive nonviral Western Blots will be misdiagnosed. And like me, they will live, however briefly, with the belief that they have HIV.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">I asked Bernard Branson, the associate director for HIV laboratory diagnostics at the CDC, whether he thought indeterminate results would ever disappear completely.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">"No test is perfect," he told me, "not even RNA tests." The CDC is currently working to develop immunoassays that dramatically cut the rate of false positives, false negatives, and indeterminate results, but there may always be a few cases like mine, no matter how advanced the technology. It's hard to know how many people get a false positive result. A 2005 study suggested a false positive rate from an immunoassay plus Western Blot of 1 in 250,000, but a lot of false positives are unreported, and the problem has not been the subject of much research.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">"Why," he asked me in return, "are you interested?"</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">I explained to him my own experiences, my week of anxiety, and my hope that others in my situation might not face the same difficulties I did. As I spoke, I felt some of the confusion, the fear, the trepidation of that awful week lurch back into my mind. I had received my final confirmatory test more than a month earlier, but the pall of HIV still hung over my life in an ineffable way. Even now, several months later, I wake up some mornings with the same sudden panic I felt the moment I got the call.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">"How can something like this still happen?" I asked Branson. That, at heart, was the question that had been haunting me. I wanted an answer beyond biology, beyond virology, an explanation larger than lab mistakes and hasty diagnoses. I wanted that week of my life back, and if I couldn't get it, I wanted to know why I lost it in the first place—why a widely used, highly sensitive test could malfunction, be misinterpreted, and bring me to the brink of despair.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">Branson considered my question for a moment.</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">"How can it happen?" he said. "Bad luck."</font></div></div><div style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; " class="text parbase section"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; " class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">When I finished the interview, I scoured my room for all of the results I had received and tucked away during my month of HIV tests. Then I tore them up and threw them away.</font></div></div></div><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/04/hiv_test_misdiagnosis_how_indeterminate_western_blot_results_can_be_misdiagnosed.html" class=""><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Helvetica Neue'">http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2013/04/hiv_test_misdiagnosis_how_indeterminate_western_blot_results_can_be_misdiagnosed.html</font></a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; " class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

The Week I Had HIV - Slate Magazine

"You should go ahead and assume that you have HIV," the doctor said. It was just before 7 on a frigid January evening. I was alone...

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The Bowery Changing

On Saturday, April 6 at 11am, I'll be giving a walking tour of the Bowery, focusing on new buildings on and near the famous street. More information and a link for tickets can be found at <a href="http://www.92y.org/Tribeca/Event/The-Bowery-Changing.aspx">92Y Tribeca</a>.<br /><br /><img alt="barkow-bowery.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/barkow-bowery.jpg" title="Bowery photograph by Amy Barkow" /><br />[Sperone Westwater Gallery and New Museum facing the Bowery | Photo (c) <a href="http://barkowphoto.com/">Amy Barkow</a>, from my <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393733262?ie=UTF8&tag=aweeklydoseof-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=211189&creativeASIN=0393733262&link_code=as3&creative=373489"><i>Guide to Contemporary New York City Architecture</i></a>]

The Bowery Changing

On Saturday, April 6 at 11am, I'll be giving a walking tour of the Bowery, focusing on new buildings on and near the famous street. Mor...

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Google #21: Have you see the new #G+eduhangout site? Take a look…

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the participants at the amazing Google Teacher Academy New York in October 2012, Brent Catlett, has created an awesome new site called #G+Eduhangouts. </span><a href="http://eduhangout.org/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" title="http://eduhangout.org/">http://eduhangout.org/</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">This is what Brent says about the site: </b><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiucrgBeIu77RzejW7yM1fGD7OBLYwTPCA87TVJWAlZDFHBJdHHraKptWoPZhlA0zpI7wXf1Yn6Q2m0PL4mH4Vzt6wo7h94V3OpGVQzkrsCRMwqH_BffoYyz0tmFEER6XopcIseF23Ca4s/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="187" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: right;">This is Brent</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></span><br />"<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#G+eduhangout has been designed to:</span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Connect educators together all across the world using Google + Hangouts. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bring experts, authors, and kids together. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Share the wonderful things happening in your classroom with others. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Learn from others that are willing to share. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and a whole lot more. . ."</span></li></ul><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Ideas for using #G+eduhangout</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brent  gives a whole page of ideas on how to use the site: " </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#G+eduhangout was created with the idea of flattening the globe, connecting students in classrooms with other students, and sharing the #edugood things going on inside classrooms all over the world.  This lists of ideas is simply some thoughts.  The creativity in which educators spin things is merely up to them.  Run with these ideas, build off them, create new ones.  Please do not hestitate to contact me to add your idea to this page."</span><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><li>These ideas cover Reading / LA / Writing / English, Maths, Science, Social Studies etc.</li><li>Have a Virtual Book Club</li><li>Conduct a Math Bee with multiple classes</li><li>Show off an experiment</li><li>Use it for mapping / geography skills</li><li>Conduct a global research project together and report back via #G+eduhangout</li><li>Book talk</li><li>Share projects and demonstrations</li><li>Share writing & get feedback from other students</li><li>Have students show younger students something they are working on & vice versa</li><li>Have people from different places talk to you about the weather in their area at the time</li><li>Parts of lessons, perhaps 3 or 4 groups each take a part in the lesson</li><li>Connect with Authors and Poets.  Here is a GREAT list of Authors on Twitter:  <a href="http://goo.gl/as03t">http://goo.gl/as03t </a></li><li>Perhaps share Apps that are being used and share how they are being used.</li><li>Experiments could be looked at from week to week with students hypothesizing and questioning possibilities</li><li>Discuss qualities of your school, city, state, country like size, population, weather, tourist attractions, etc. with other places</li><li>Connect with students to discuss their coursework and papers for a research course</li><li>English classes could do characters from stories and compare and contrast novels</li><li>Show off a class pet, live creatures, or exotic animal from local zoo visit to your classroom</li><li>Have a Quest to connect with every State or multiple countries to gain research data for a project</li><li>Interview experts and leaders in the field and record #G+eduhangout on air and then have for use in class later</li><li>Connect your BLOGGERS with their audience </li><li>Have a Mystery Hangout with other classes from all over the world and have students ask questions to guess where they are from.</li><li>For PE the class could have athlete, Olympian, or fitness gurus join the Hangout</li><li>Use it to collaborate with other schools reading the same text</li><li>Celebrate special events or holidays.  For example, during World Read Aloud Day our high school students read to our elementary students in different buildings</li></span></ul><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and loads more ideas! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whew, this all looks awesome. Brent gives detailed instructions of how he envisions this site developing:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lb9p2lqlmTE" width="420"></iframe></span></div>

30 Days of Google Google #21: Have you see the new #G+eduhangout site? Take a look…

One of the participants at the amazing Google Teacher Academy New York in October 2012, Brent Catlett, has created an awesome new site calle...

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Baidu, China's Google, Is Developing Product Similar To Google Glass

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9c6W4CCU9M4?feature=player_embedded" width="640"></iframe><img height="640" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/219749/slide_219749_857580_free.jpg" width="562" /><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Baidu Inc </span><bidu .o="" style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">, China's largest search engine, is developing prototype digital eyewear similar to Google Inc's <goog .o="" style="border: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Google Glass that will leverage Baidu's strengths in image search and facial recognition, a Baidu spokesman said on Wednesday.<br style="border: none; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="border: none; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;" />Internally known as project "Baidu Eye", the glasses are being tested internally and it is not clear whether the product will ever be commercialized, said Kaiser Kuo, Baidu's spokesman.<br style="border: none; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="border: none; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;" />Kuo said the device will be mounted on a headset with a small LCD screen and will allow users to make image and voice searches as well as conduct facial recognition matches.<br style="border: none; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="border: none; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;" />"What you are doing with your camera, for example, taking a picture of a celebrity and then checking on our database to see if we have a facial image match, you could do the same thing with a wearable visual device," Kuo said.<br style="border: none; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="border: none; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;" />Baidu's first foray in wearable technology will draw comparisons to Google's Google Glass product, which is a piece of electronic eyewear that can live-stream images and audio and perform computing tasks. Earlier this year Google launched the Google Glass Explorer program, opening up the eyewear for early enthusiasts to test.<br style="border: none; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="border: none; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;" />Kuo said comparisons to Google Glass were premature as Baidu has not decided whether or not to commercialize the product.<br style="border: none; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="border: none; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;" />"We haven't decided whether it is going to be released in any commercial form right now, but we experiment with every kind of technology that is related to search," Kuo said. Kuo declined to comment on the other functions of the Baidu Eye or whether Baidu is working on other forms of wearable technology.<br style="border: none; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="border: none; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;" />Wearable technology is the latest technology initiative with many firms, including Google and Apple Inc <aapl .o="" style="border: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">, set to roll out devices based on the belief that users will increasingly seek to stay connected without being tethered to a desktop, laptop or tablet computer.<br style="border: none; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="border: none; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;" />Apple is experimenting with a device similar to a wristwatch that would operate on the same platform as the iPhone and would be made with curved glass, the New York Times reported in February.<br style="border: none; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="border: none; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 4px; padding: 0px;" />(Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Matt Driskill)</aapl></goog></bidu><br /><bidu .o="" style="background-color: white; border: none; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><goog .o="" style="border: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><aapl .o="" style="border: none; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><img height="640" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/219749/slide_219749_857579_free.jpg" width="562" /></aapl></goog></bidu></div>

Google Glass news Baidu, China's Google, Is Developing Product Similar To Google Glass

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Baidu Inc  , China's largest search engine, is developing prototype digital eyewear similar to Google Inc's  Go...

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