HIV Testing

HIV TEST

AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) was first reported in the United States in 1981 and has since become a major worldwide epidemic. AIDS is caused by HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). By killing or damaging cells of the body's immune system, HIV progressively destroys the body's ability to fight infections and certain cancers. People diagnosed with AIDS may get life-threatening diseases called opportunistic infections, which are caused by microbes such as viruses or bacteria that usually do not make healthy people sick.
More than 900,000 cases of AIDS have been reported in the United States since 1981. As many as 950,000 Americans may be infected with HIV, one-quarter of whom are unaware of their infection. The epidemic is growing most rapidly among minority populations and is a leading killer of African-American males ages 25 to 44. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), AIDS now affects nearly seven times more African Americans and three times more Hispanics than whites. In recent years, an increasing number of African-American women and children are being affected by HIV/AIDS. In 2003, two-thirds of U.S. AIDS cases in both women and children were among African-Americans. Clearly, HIV can not be thought of as a virus that infects only homosexual white males. This attitude is simply incorrect.

Because early HIV infection often causes no symptoms, it is often first found by testing your blood for the presence of antibodies (disease-fighting proteins) to HIV. However, HIV antibodies generally do not reach noticeable levels in the blood for 1 to 3 months following infection. It may take the antibodies as long as 6 months to be produced in quantities large enough to show up in standard blood tests (ELISA). The time point to antibody production differs from one person to another, and this process is called seroconversion. So, to determine whether you have been recently infected (acute infection), your blood can be screened for the presence of HIV genetic material using a test called the HIV Proviral DNA by PCR test. This test does not have to wait for the presence of HIV antibodies. Rather, it looks for the HIV virus DNA in your blood. Remember, your body first has to detect HIV DNA in your blood, and then it begins producing HIV antibodies, and this seroconversion can take up to 6 months.

Direct screening of HIV is extremely critical in order to prevent transmission of HIV from recently infected individuals.

Additionally, some studies suggest that it may be possible to prevent AIDS if the disease is caught early enough. For this reason, when Nurses or Doctors are accidenally exposed to HIV postive blood (like through an accidental needlestick from a needle that was used on a HIV positive patient), they often get the HIV Proviral DNA test and start a one month preventative course of anti HIV medications. Further testing typically occurs after the end of the prophylactic drug therapy, and/or at 6 months after exposure, just to be sure the Nurse or Doctor is still HIV negative.


*Editor's note: Having worked in the HIV field for 12 years, it seemed only a matter of time before I was directly exposed to HIV positive blood. My doctor tested me one week after exposure using the HIV Proviral DNA test, and the test was negative. I took a drug called combivir for 28 days and my doctor tested me again using the HIV Proviral DNA test. Again the test was negative. Six months later my doctor tested me using the HIV Antibody test, and I prayed to God every day and night for those six long months. Thanks be to God and my Doctor that I am HIV negative to this day.

To purchase a HIV Proviral DNA test simply order online at LabSafe at http://www.labsafe.com/lab-tests/test/436 or visit our website at www.labsafe.com

To purchase a standard HIV Antibody Test you can order online at LabSafe at http://www.labsafe.com/lab-tests/test/437

For more information, or to speak with a member of our professional Medical Staff, call LabSafe toll free at 1-888-333-LABS.