THE ISSUE: AIDS testing

OUR OPINION: DHEC putting emphasis where needed

Battling AIDS in 2009 is different than a decade and more ago. The public stigma of the disease as somehow unique to homosexuals has not evaporated, but the reality is clear. These days, particularly in places such as the Edisto Health District with the highest incidence of cases in the state, AIDS is a growing problem among heterosexual adults, and particularly African-American heterosexual adults.

Knowing the facts about HIV and AIDS is an important part in fighting the disease.

During the early years of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, the government recommended AIDS screening only in big cities, where the disease rates are high, and among members of high-risk groups, such as gay men and drug addicts.

Then two large, federally funded studies found the cost of routinely testing and treating nearly all adults would be outweighed by a reduction in new infections and the opportunity to start patients on drug cocktails early, when they work best.

The government took another step. An HIV test should be almost as common as a cholesterol check, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in recommending routine testing for the AIDS virus for most Americans. The CDC said people between the ages of 13 and 64 should be tested for the virus when they get other routine medical tests, although not every year unless they are at risk for AIDS.

Estimates have it that more than a million Americans are living with HIV, but approximately 250,000 of them are unaware they are infected with the virus.

The S.C Department of Health and Environmental Control has prioritized testing. Events focused on free or low-cost testing most recently were centered around Friday’s National HIV Testing Day. The importance of testing is not to be forgotten the other 364 days of the year.

Rapid HIV testing provides preliminary results within an hour. Follow-up testing is required for anyone with preliminary positive results in order to confirm the results.

On the national level, Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California has reintroduced a bill to require health insurance plans to cover routine HIV tests under the same terms and conditions as other routine health screenings. The risk of further spread of AIDS/HIV illustrates the legislation is needed to ensure broader testing.

To prevent spread of the disease and help those with it, AIDS testing makes particularly good sense in locales such as Orangeburg – and for the rest of the country, too.

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For more information about HIV testing, call DHEC’s AIDS/STD Hotline at 1-800-322-AIDS (1-800-322-2437). For more information, visit DHEC’s STD/HIV Web pages at: http://www.scdhec.gov/stdhiv/.

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