WHAT IT MEANS HIV testing
tells you whether or not you have been infected with HIV. There are two
kinds of tests. The cheapest and most widely used is called the
HIV-antibody test because it tells you whether or not your body has
developed antibodies to fight HIV. More expensive and sophisticated is
the p24 antigen test, which identifies the actual virus in your blood.
If you believe that your possible HIV exposure was recent, your doctor
may want to order the p24 antigen test, because it can take the body
three to six months after infection to produce antibodies to HIV.
WHY IT MATTERS Learning
you have HIV is certainly not welcome news, but it is a heads-up to
heed about your health. A positive result means you should find an HIV
doctor and get serious about staying well—and protecting others from
the virus. A negative result gives you a chance to rethink whether—or
why—you’ve been putting yourself at risk.
HOW IT WORKS Call
the National AIDS Hotline at 800.CDC.INFO (800.232.4636) or ask your
doctor to test you. The standard HIV-antibody test is a blood test that
requires you to wait two weeks for the results. If skipping the
suspense is a priority, you may request a rapid test that provides
results in less than an hour—bear in mind that a rapid positive
requires confirmation with a follow-up standard test. If you don’t like
needles, opt for a urine test or an oral test (a swab of your gums).
NOTE TO TEST TAKERS HIV
testing is supposed to include counseling to help you understand your
diagnosis and take steps to deal with it. However, as HIV becomes a
more and more manageable disease, counseling is often viewed as an
unnecessary luxury. But there is nothing routine about getting a
positive result, and you should leave your visit with a plan for
finding a doctor and a person to turn to for advice. Check out
POZ.com’s Just Found Out? guide for the first and POZ Mentor for the
second.
SCORECARD
99.5%
The accuracy rate of HIV-antibody tests.
CONFIDENTIAL vs. ANONYMOUS So-called
confidential testing sites take your name but are required to keep your
HIV status private. Anonymous tests simply assign you a number.
However, if your state requires names reporting, you cannot get an
anonymous test.
