For the past few years, routine HIV testing has been a hot issue. According to News & Observer online, in the 1980s and 1990s, HIV testing was rare. It was only offered to those in high-risk groups (homosexuals, sex professionals, drug users), and since it had a stigma attached to it, few people agreed to be tested. Even when people were identified, effective therapies were not yet available (Peppercorn 2007). All of that has changed in recent years. Researchers have now estimated that around 1 million people in the country have HIV, and about 25% of those don’t even know it (Gardner).
To identify more people who have the virus, researchers and doctors are recommending that everyone who sees a doctor be offered a routine HIV test. Doctors shouldn’t wait until patients ask for it; it should be offered with informed consent. Identifying people who have the virus can lead to all kinds of benefits (The Associated Press). A recent study has shown that when people who visited an emergency room were offered a rapid HIV test, nearly 60% agreed to be tested, and approximately 1% of these tested positive.
Of the positive tests, around 48% were not in the high risk category and may not have been identified otherwise, which is a serious benefit to those infected persons. It has long been known that early intervention greatly reduces the effects of HIV. Rapid HIV tests use blood or saliva swabs, and take only 20 minutes for a result. Once a person with HIV has been identified, they are recommended for counseling and for medications which will reduce the amount of the virus in their bodies (Gardner).
Another benefit is that those who have been identified are given information about safer sex practices, and are more likely to use that information. This reduces the rate of infections (The Associated Press). Routine testing in pregnant women since 1999 has also greatly reduced the risk of an infected mother passing the virus on to her baby (Peppercorn). Reducing the risk of infection is important, because if fewer people are becoming infected, then the virus cannot spread, and will eventually begin to die out.
This seems like the easiest and best way to stop the HIV virus. HIV infections are growing most rapidly in the Southeastern areas of the country, and efforts are beginning to be concentrated there. African American, heterosexual men and women who live in rural areas are at the greatest risk in this country, and many of these people may not have access to health care. Identifying this risk and setting up routine testing may help to reduce the number of infections (Peppercorn).
The CDC is also holding testing sites at gay pride parades and other high-risk events, so that people who may not have routine access to healthcare can be identified. At a recent gay pride event, about 25% of 543 men who were surveyed had not seen a doctor in the past year. 133 of the men agreed to be tested, and 6% tested positive. These type of testing sites are helping to identify people who at risk (Gardner). People who have full-blown AIDS before they are aware of infection may die in a matter of days after being identified, according to Dr.
Amanda Peppercorn. They are also at increased risk of spreading the infection. People who are identified early and given medical intervention often die in old age of cancer or other age-related illnesses, rather than complications due to AIDS. As testing becomes more routine, and even more stigma is removed from it, more people will be tested and identified early. The spread of HIV will be slowed and eventually stopped, and the disease will have a looser hold on our country.
While much work remains to be done in developing countries, where the disease cannot be easily controlled and people do not always have access to medication (The Associated Press), in this country, HIV is definitely on the decline.
Bibliography
Gardner, Amanda (2007). “HIV testing. ” HealthDay, Scout News. Peppercorn, Amanda (Feb 11, 2007). “The Time is right for routine HIV testing. ” The News and Observer. “U. N. urges routine HIV testing for patients (May 30, 2007). ” The Associated Press, www. MSNBC. com. Accessed June 23, 2007.