IANAD, but AFAIK, HIV tests check for antibodies: Your body's response to HIV. So how do they check that the virus is gone? AFAIK, the antibodies would remain in your system even if you killed the virus. I guess if the child didn't produce her own antibodies, then they'd be flushed out of her system eventually.<p>Are they looking at a lack of anti bodies to determine a lack of virus? Or, do they have a special test where they actually look for the virus? If the latter, why don't they use this test to determine if someone has HIV for everybody? I recall reading it takes up to 6 months for the antibodies to show up in your blood stream. If you could just look for the virus itself, wouldn't you know sooner?