Why EVERY Person Should Be Tested for HIV

Becky Kuhn, M.D. explains why everyone age 13-64 should be tested for HIV at every doctor's office visit. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control recommended in September 2006 that all patients age 13-64 years be tested for HIV when they visit the doctor's office. As of the end of 2003, it was estimated that one in four HIV positive individuals in the United States do not know they have been infected with HIV. As a result, they will not get the medical care that could improve their health and prolong or save their life. They also may transmit the virus to others without realizing it and fail to take protective measures like safer sex practices that could prevent HIV transmission. You may feel perfectly healthy and also feel you are at little risk for HIV. But there are many individuals who had felt well and felt they were not at risk for contracting HIV and ended up testing positive during a routine HIV screening, for example during a pregnancy. Increasingly, new HIV infections are being found among other populations. It's estimated that there are about 40,000 new HIV infections each year in the U.S. Women now account for more than one quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses, and HIV infection is the leading cause of death for African American women between ages 25 and 34.80% of women, and 15% of men who were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS during 2005 were infected through heterosexual sex. Refutes misinformation from the "Lee Evans HIV Tests" video. This video is freely downloadable from http://www.archive.org/details/aidsvideos_test_every . Disabled accessibility: The transcript for this and many other AIDSvideos.org videos can be downloaded from http://aidsvideos.org/translate.shtml . Visit http://www.GlobalLifeworks.org and http://AIDSvideos.org to learn more. [Do you want to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS? Are you fluent in a language other than English? Then volunteer to translate our videos into other languages! Click http://AIDSvideos.org/translate.shtml to to learn how you can help!!! © Copyright 2007-2011 Global Lifeworks. All rights reserved. This work is licensed to be used for non-commercial purposes under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/.]

Category:

Education

Tags:

• hiv
• aids
• prevention
• education
• ABC
• abstinence
• be
• faithful
• condom
• SAVE
• counseling
• antiretroviral
• voluntary
• testing

[giggsTakeYourHatsoff]

could some1 please tell me if u could get hiv by giving some1 the head

[AIDSvideos]

@giggsTakeYourHatsoff: You can.

[andy432009]

Is this trying to spread terror on earth or witch hunting? soon you're gonna have to get tested for HIV even to rent a tuxido

[AIDSvideos]

Uh, doubt that. I've not heard that there's any risk of transmitting HIV by wearing someone else's clothes ...

[arnoldgd84]

Hi, If i was to get tested for HIV 2 months after the day i might have exposed but a week or 2 before the 3rd month, so almost about 3 months. My test came out negative. Is it safe to say that I am negative after being tested after 2 months? What are the chances of it being false negative? PLEASE REPLY

[AIDSvideos]

This is Eric; I'm not a doctor. Watch our video "Top Ten Questions About HIV Tests" for details about how likely to be correct a test is after a given period of time has elapsed. And above all, ask your personal physician for personal medical advice about your own situation.

[flyxify]

Is it possible to contract it without any sexual contact?

I am turning 14 and havr not even touched a boy below his shoulders (I really only find the need to touch them when I need to give them a good smack).

[layhayla]

@giggsTakeYourHatsoff yes you can.Any bodily fluids. please get tested.

[giggsTakeYourHatsoff]

@AIDSvideos k THANK U!

[yobolion]

@shaggy2dope150 No

[TheCharisC]

Obviously an individual must chose for them if an HIV test is for them, but with so many people with the potential of not knowing that they have and could possibly transmit the virus, I can understand why the CDC is encouraging it.

[TheCharisC]

That is a rather obvious situation where it would be common sense to be tested, but what about the people that don't know they have HIV, or healthcare workers that chose not to be proactive when they know they are exposed to HIV and don't get tested because they don't believe it can happen to them?

[TheCharisC]

. I was a dental assistant for 4 years, and knew a colleague that acquired the HIV virus from a deep needle stick from a patient that was suffering from HIV. Her first test came back negative, but her second came back positive for HIV. The chances of acquiring HIV through that kind of scenario are less than 1%,, unfortunately, that colleague is living proof that it can happen.

[TheCharisC]

The risks and percentages are higher with sexual contact, but there are also statistics for people acquiring the HIV virus through some kind of transmission of infected blood into another person with open or broken skin, such as healthcare workers.. The percentages are much lower with these kinds of situations, but it can happen.