The goal: Testing for all - Free HIV testing to be offered at DuPage event

The goal: Testing for all - Free HIV testing to be offered at DuPage event
By Jennifer Grant
Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune
June 16, 2010
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-x-w-0616-health-hiv-test-day-20100616,0,2026922.story


It's a simple test, requiring a pin prick to draw a drop of blood, or maybe a gentle swab of the gums.

But the social stigma is so great that many people never find out whether they are infected with human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, which attacks blood cells crucial to the immune system and leads to AIDS.

"There are a lot of worried people out there who avoid being tested," said David Allen, co-director of Canticle Ministries in Wheaton, an organization that provides transitional housing to people living with HIV. Allen, a certified HIV tester and counselor, is a volunteer at the Dupage County Health Department who is committed to offering communitywide testing, such as a free event in DuPage on June 25.

"Even people who have engaged in risky behaviors don't want to ask their primary caregivers for a test," agreed Dr. David Tewes, president of Serenity House Counseling Services Inc., an addiction treatment facility in Addison.

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But, he said, "HIV testing is an integral part of what we do" because addicts often have engaged in risky behavior such as sharing needles or having unprotected sex.

"If they test positive, it's a very good incentive not to relapse because we can keep them connected to treatment," he said. "We educate them about HIV. It's a treatable, livable illness."

The availability of antiretroviral therapies means that a positive HIV test result is no longer a death sentence. Early entry into treatment, however, is vital. Antiretroviral drugs significantly reduce viral load, not only protecting the immune system from attack but reducing the likelihood of infecting someone else.

HIV is passed from one person to another through blood, semen, vaginal fluids or breast milk.

Shortly after being infected with HIV, some people experience flulike symptoms as their bodies develop antibodies to fight the virus. Others have no symptoms at all. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 97 percent of infected persons develop detectable antibodies within the first three months of exposure.

"There is less fear and less press about HIV, but it is still very much with us," Allen said.

While the AIDS pandemic is often seen as an issue in Africa, there are parts of the U.S. with a higher prevalence of HIV infection than in hard-hit countries there. A recent article in The New England Journal of Medicine reported that the number of adults living with HIV in Washington, D.C., for example, is higher than that in Ethiopia, Nigeria or Rwanda.

Of the more than 1 million people living with HIV in the U.S., the CDC estimates that more than 20 percent do not know their status.

"Everyone needs to know their HIV status, and the bottom line is that it's just not getting done," said Brad Ogilvie, founder of the Mosaic Initiative, a grass-roots organization committed to stopping the spread of HIV.

Ogilvie, a clinician and counselor who is HIV-positive himself, continues to petition the FDA to approve the sale of inexpensive, rapid, over-the-counter home testing kits. Mosaic's "Know Your Status" campaign not only educates people about HIV but also encourages all people to be tested.

"Only when every member of a community knows his or her own HIV status can the virus be contained," Ogilvie said. "Home-based testing is an option, and people are empowered when they have more options."

In 2006, the CDC announced new guidelines encouraging doctors to offer routine HIV tests to all patients between the ages of 13 and 64.

Even so, "it's not become routine," Allen said. "Doctors are reluctant to talk about social risk factors with their patients. And patients might refuse, fearing that their insurance companies might deny them coverage if they tested positive."

Ogilvie remains committed to spreading the message that everyone should be tested, no matter what their age, sexual orientation or economic status. When an entire town or county or state gets tested, he said, the stigma associated with the test is rendered obsolete.

"When people are tested, they are leading by example. They become educated about HIV and can share information with others," Ogilvie said. "Everyone should know their status."

On June 25, free, confidential HIV tests will be offered from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Serenity House, 891 S. Illinois Route 53 in Addison. The event, sponsored by Serenity House, the DuPage County Health Department and the Mosaic Initiative, also includes a lunch and panel discussion on HIV beginning at noon. For more information or to RSVP, call 630-620-6616, ext. 100. For more information on National HIV Testing Day, visit napwa.org.