Researchers observed responses from 147,000 Americans aged 18 to 64, obtained through surveys conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2000 through 2005.
Of the roughly 22 percent of high-risk individuals who did receive testing, only half of those did so of their own accord. Other tests were administered through health insurance applications, military evaluations, regular checkups or other methods.
But researchers are reasonably optimistic, with 27 percent of people at highest risk planning on getting tested in the coming year.
“The [AIDS prevention] information is getting out there. High-risk groups are appropriately assessing their risk and are interested in testing,” says Brian Pence, an epidemiologist at Duke University and one of the authors of the study. “And yet there’s this gap between intention and action.”
Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
