A Wrong HIV-Positive Diagnosis Nearly Took Her Life

   Winnie Mbabazi's Story

By Nankwanga Eunice Kasirye

“In just a few hours, everything I believed about my life collapsed.”

Balancing Marriage, University, and a First Pregnancy

In 2017, Winnie Mbabazi was a second-year university student enrolled in an evening program. she was also newly married, expecting her first child. It was a time filled with excitement, responsibility, and uncertainty but a wrong HIV positive diagnosis was not anywhere among her worries..
Like many first-time mothers, Winnie had not yet officially started antenatal care. She knew she was pregnant, but she did not fully understand what early antenatal visits involved or when they should begin.
By her third month, however, her body began sending worrying signals.

“I felt restless and unusually weak,” Winnie recalls. “I knew something wasn’t right.”

After confiding in a close friend, she was advised to seek medical attention, specifically to have a scan done to confirm the wellbeing of her pregnancy.

"I wasn’t going to the hospital to confirm the pregnancy,” she explains. “I already knew I was pregnant. I just wanted to know whether my baby was okay.”

From Lecture Hall to Hospital 

That evening, Winnie attended her university lecture, which ended at around 7:00 p.m. Before going home, she boarded a boda-boda and headed straight to a well-known hospital in Kololo, Kampala, an institution widely regarded for specialist care and experienced gynecologists.
At reception, she explained that she was pregnant for the first time, feeling unwell, and hoping to have a scan done. She was then directed to the doctor’s office, where she described her symptoms in more detail.
The doctor asked how far along the pregnancy was. She estimated three months. He also asked whether she was taking any medication. When she answered no, he noted that antenatal medication should already have been started. Along with the scan, a blood test was recommended to screen for several conditions, including HIV. ideally one would be worried about the possible positive HIV results but Winne was confident, there was nothing to worry about- but the monster of wrong HIV-positive diagnosis was waiting without her knowledge

A Scan That Brought Relief

The scan was conducted first, even when the blood sample was taken earlier. The medical professional explained what was appearing on the screen. For the first time, Mbabazi saw her unborn child forming. She was reassured that the pregnancy was stable.

“I was relieved,” she says. “I could see my baby. I was told everything looked fine.”

The scan report was printed and she was asked to return to the doctor with it. 

Waiting, Then Fear

Her blood sample was taken at around 8:00 p.m. As the minutes stretched into hours, unease began to set in. By 11:00 p.m., the results had still not been released.
Winnie noticed tension among the medical staff. Although no explanation was offered, the atmosphere felt heavy.
Growing increasingly restless, she asked why the blood results were taking so long.
Moments later, she was called back into the doctor’s room.

 The Questioning That Changed  Everything

Inside the room, the doctor’s tone had shifted. A series of pointed questions followed.
Because Winnie had lost a sibling to leukemia the year before, her thoughts immediately went to blood cancer. She asked whether there was something wrong with her blood, something like what killed her sibling .

The doctor dismissed cancer as a possibility. Instead, he told her that her blood “was not clean.”

The conversation then turned to HIV.
She was asked whether she had tested before marriage. She confirmed that both she and her husband had tested negative. When asked when they last tested together, she replied that it had been four months earlier.
She was then asked whether she trusted her husband. She said yes.
The doctor disagreed.
According to him, the person she trusted had infected her with HIV.
The diagnosis given to her was HIV positive.

“I Rejected It Completely”. “I told the doctor clearly that I did not have HIV,” Winnie says. “I was confident about my status.”

She was informed that positive HIV results are usually reviewed and tested several times before confirmation. She asked whether the same level of review had been done in her case. The doctor affirmed that it had.

Despite this, she refused to accept the result and requested that it not be written on her medical form.

“I felt it would bring bad luck,” she explains. “More than that, I knew it wasn’t true.”

Interpreting her response as denial, the doctor began counseling her to accept the diagnosis. She was given the contact of an HIV counselor and directed to an organization where Antiretroviral Medication for both her and her unborn child could be obtained.

Winnie stood her ground. She insisted on seeking a second medical opinion before any diagnosis was documented.

Although the doctor agreed, he urged her to keep the counselor’s contact number “just in case.”

Sent Home in Shock

Concerned about Winnie’s emotional state, the medical team feared that the shock could endanger both her and the pregnancy. They arranged a boda-boda to take her home.
During the ride, Winnie broke her silence and told the rider what had just happened. She asked whether false HIV-positive results ever occur.

“They do,” he replied, urging her to repeat the test at another hospital.

Even with that reassurance, the weight of the diagnosis had already settled in.

A Night of Trauma and Silence

That night, Winnie lay awake and told no one, not even her husband-what had happened.
As the hours dragged on, certainty collapsed into doubt. Trust unraveled. Fear tightened its grip.

“I started imagining my death,” she says. “I even imagined being buried near my sibling who had died the year before.”

By morning, the night had marked her as the most traumatic experience of her life.

The Search for the Truth

At dawn, as soon as her husband left for work, Winnie went to Kadiak Hospital for a retest. She did not tell anyone what she had gone through the night before.

The result was negative.
Still unsettled, she went to a third facility, Lifelink Medical  Centre in Ntinda. Once again, the test came back negative.
After the third test, her confidence slowly began to return.
Later that day, she went to church and then returned home. The fear had not fully lifted. She could not eat and drank only water

The Apology Call

That evening, an unfamiliar number appeared on Winnie’s phone.
The caller identified himself as Dr. Simon, the head of the laboratory at the first hospital.
He apologized.
After reviewing her case when he reported for duty, he ordered multiple retests using the blood sample that had been kept in the laboratory. Every repeat test returned negative.
A laboratory error had occurred.

“I was bitter,” Winnie admits. “But he kept apologizing.”

 What Medical Evidence Confirms

The World Health Organization requires HIV diagnosis to follow strict testing algorithms, especially during pregnancy. Although HIV tests are highly accurate, false-positive results can still occur. Laboratory errors, clerical mistakes, and biological changes during pregnancy can interfere with initial screening tests.
Research also shows that even a brief period of believing a false HIV diagnosis can cause severe psychological distress, anxiety, and trauma particularly for expectant mothers.

What Stayed With Her

When Winnie finally told her husband what had happened, his reaction caught her off guard. He asked that they test again, together.
Although the results were negative, the experience shook their trust.
No formal complaint followed, and no written record of the false diagnosis remained.
Even so, the lesson stayed with her.

“HIV is real,” Winnie says.
“But a wrong diagnosis can almost kill you.”
After a brief pause, she adds,
“Always confirm your status with more than one professional source.”
“And remember people living with HIV already carry enough pain. They deserve accuracy, care, and dignity.”