Back in the 1990’s, I worked with a guy who got very sick. He tested negative for HIV at first. Several weeks later, he was near death and after running more tests , he tested positive. Turns out, he had unprotected sex with a man in Germany a month or two before. But, while he was infected, so close to his exposure, he tested negative.
My understanding is that the dormancy period for HIV is often years or decades. Is this not correct?