What does serostatus mean in gay culture?
What is serostatus?
The determined status of someone who has tested for Serosorting.
Definition
A term to define the results of Serosorting. Those who are positive for the test, are noted as being Seropositive, while those who test negative are noted as being Seronegative.
Seropositive refers to the finding of specific antibodies within the blood serum, meaning that the person may be infected for the disease being searched for.
Seronegative obviously refers to the lack of finding any of the antibodies, that would indicate a person had been infected, or is infected. However, it does not mean they are, in a 100% factor, free of that disease.
Noteworthy: Used a great deal in determining HIV status for many, however, being Seropositive for one type of disease, does not mean they are positive for other diseases.
It depends solely on which antibodies are being tracked, as there are several tests, that search the blood serum, depending on the disease being targeted.