What should the patient be told about the preliminary positive result?

Patients should be counseled that positive test results are only preliminary and that additional testing is necessary to confirm the diagnosis. If the patient is at risk for delivery, they should be informed that the second test will likely not be back prior to delivery of their baby. They should be counseled that antiretroviral medication is recommended to reduce the risk of transmission of the virus to the baby. Additionally, they should be counseled to avoid breastfeeding (or pump/store breastmilk in the event of a false positive test) until confirmatory test results are available.