Beyond the Spin: Time to get tested for HIV
More than 20 percent of those in the U.S. with the disease don't know they have it.
It happened nearly 20 years ago, when I was living in New York City, but I remember it as clearly as if it happened earlier today. A female friend called me in a panic and said she feared her boyfriend had infected her with HIV, and she was afraid to get tested.
I didn't ask what led her to that conclusion or why she hadn't taken up the matter with her boyfriend. In the larger scheme of things, that wasn't my primary concern at the time; getting her tested was. I asked: Will you get tested if I agree to get tested, too? She quickly said yes and we made arrangements to go to a health clinic together.
Our blood was drawn, and we were each assigned a number and told to call back for results in two weeks. Those were the longest two weeks of my life. I had no reason to think I was HIV-positive, but as a single man living in the Big Apple, I had no reason to rule it out, either.
When we called back for results, we were each told we had tested negative. Whew!
Tomorrow is National HIV Testing Day and, fortunately, science has come a long way since I was first tested for the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS. It is no longer necessary to get blood drawn, as the test requires only a swab of the inside of the mouth. And the Federal Drug Administration has approved a half-dozen rapid-result tests that yield an answer within 10 minutes, not two weeks.
On average, someone in the United States is infected with HIV every 91/2 minutes. Of the more than one million people living with HIV or AIDS in the United States, 21 percent are unaware of it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That increases the likelihood of their unknowingly infecting others and of their delaying taking medications that could prolong their lives.
The first known case of AIDS was reported in 1981. Since then, an estimated 1.7 million people have been infected with HIV, including 580,000 who have died.
To reduce the spread of HIV, the CDC and advocacy groups urge everyone to know his or her HIV status. Although the CDC initially recommended regular screening only for certain high-risk groups, such as gay and bisexual men, and intravenous drug users, they now believe that everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 should be routinely screened at least once a year. However, many states require that patients sign a separate consent form to be screened for HIV, a requirement AIDS activists are trying to remove.
Slightly more than half of American adults - 53 percent - report having been tested for HIV. Only 19 percent say they have been tested within the last year.
In most states, including Pennsylvania, HIV testing can be confidential or anonymous. In the case of confidential testing, the name of the person being tested is kept secret. In anonymous testing, no name is ever recorded.
A recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation provided some interesting insights. Of those tested, 65 percent said they did so because they thought it was a good idea. Twenty-six percent said they got tested on the advice of their health-care provider, 21 percent because they were concerned about a possible HIV infection, and 9 percent because their partner suggested they be tested.
Among young people (ages 18 to 29) - a group disproportionately impacted by HIV and AIDS - 70 percent said they had not been tested because they did not think they were at risk.
At a time when HIV and AIDS are at epidemic proportions, Americans are less likely to report seeing or hearing about the domestic HIV problem than they were five years ago, according to the Kaiser study. The share of people who say they have read, heard, or seen "a lot" about HIV and AIDS declined from 70 percent in 2004 to 45 percent in 2009.
That drop-off has been accompanied by troubling misinformation about HIV and AIDS. The study found that 55 percent of Americans surveyed did not know that a pregnant woman with HIV can take drugs to reduce the risk of her baby being infected. About a quarter - 24 percent - mistakenly believed that Magic Johnson has been cured of AIDS, or were unsure whether he was. Eighteen percent were unaware that there is no cure for AIDS.
It's time to refocus our attention on HIV and AIDS. And a good way to do that is by getting tested tomorrow.