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Home AIDS/HIV Testing ?Ronald Porep, Republished from SafetyIssues.com Issue 25 |
Volume 4 Issue 43June 2005 |
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You remember the party in brief flashes. You drank too much as usual. You
went home with a woman but she is long gone which is one of the major
rules of the game. What did she look like? What was her name? You shudder realizing how much you do not know this person you shared your bed with. How many sexual partners has she had? How many sexual partners have you had? How much do you know about any of the sexual partners you have had? Could any of the women you have bedded have a sexually transmitted disease? Could you have gotten AIDS? You start to shake as the fear hits you. How do you find out if you have AIDS? |
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You can not handle going to the hospital to be tested. You could never admit your rather free sexual lifestyle to
your physician. How much does he tell your company’s health provider
about you anyway? If you have AIDS or even if your doctor tests you for
AIDS, that information could get you fired and ostracized by your
friends. How could you handle that?
After the panic dies down a bit, you remember seeing an ad for a home AIDS test you can buy in your local drug store. The ad stresses that the information is anonymous so no one will know you have been tested including what the test result is. You go to a drug store. You buy a home AIDS test kit. You prick your finger to get a drop of blood. You add your blood sample to a plastic testing device containing a special type of paper. You add the developing solution that came in the kit to determine if the sample is positive for HIV. The results claim you are safe from HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. But are you safe? Most likely not. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and most medical professionals stress that most home AIDS and HIV test kits are NOT approved by the FDA which verifies the accuracy and effectiveness of all medical testing. But the test you bought says on the box that it is FDA approved. There is ONLY one HIV-1 Home Collection Test System that is currently approved by the FDA in which a sample for testing is collected in the privacy of your home and then sent to a laboratory for analysis. The "Home Access Express HIV-1 Test System" manufactured by Home Access Health Corporation is the only HIV-1 Home Collection Test System approved by FDA and legally sold in the United States. ALL other home AIDS / HIV tests are buyer beware and, in the case of AIDS and HIV, what you do not know can kill you. How can you know if you have AIDS or HIV? While the one approved AIDS / HIV home test is accurate, users still misinterpret results. How many women have taken a home pregnancy test and thought they were pregnant until tested by a doctor? Your best place to be tested for AIDS or HIV is in the office of a doctor. The doctor can be your regular physician or, if you are concerned that your doctor may tell someone that you were tested and what the test result is, you can go to an AIDS / HIV testing clinic. In such clinics, you will be tested by a doctor and the results will be anonymous. You can find such clinics by looking in your local phone book or by calling your local community health department. At such clinics, you will also find other help you need. The results of the test you had are only good for the time before the test was taken. The next sex partner you have could give you AIDS or HIV. AIDS / HIV clinics offer counseling so you can control your sex life instead of your sexual urges controlling and, possibly, killing you. |
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