system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Are there strains of HIV that aren’t detectable by modern testing?

(Edited to meet guidelines)

Hello all, 

Are there any cases where an individual might test negative (outside of the window period) using HIV RNA PCR & antibody/antigen testing despite actually being positive?

Is it possible that someone might have some weird/rare mutation that causes the HIV RNA PCR test to not detect any HIV despite it being present?

If so, would that mutation also impact the HIV antibodies to where they are also not detectable?

Thank you for your time.
gpt
The tests don’t look for single places; they check for a wide range of HIV components, and HIV effects. For a virus to avoid all the components that are tested for, it would no longer be a functional HIV.