Oh miii gosh!! One can carry out an HIV test at home. Do you know how DANGEROUS that is from a psychological standpoint. What about counselling before testing. HIV is not just any other disease, it can lead to severe initial reactions, eg. suicide!!
I don’t think HIV is the “death sentence” it once was, and I have to believe more people are aware of that than before.
I would also venture to say a large percentage of the people who aren’t ready to hear the diagnosis from a physician wouldn’t be ready to take the test at home either. I think this is an opportunity for the people who know they should get tested routinely, but find excuses not to make it to a clinic, to run to their local pharmacy and pick one up as casually as they would a pregnancy test, and consult a physician/call the hotline if necessary.
Plus, from reading the article, if there was a danger to be concerned with, it most certainly has to be that of false negatives (the test is only 92% accurate in identifying HIV positive test subjects, compared to 99.9% accurate in identifying HIV negative test subjects), which means 1/12 people who take this test might forgo retesting 3-6 months later because of a false sense of security from a negative result.
Oh miii gosh!! One can carry out an HIV test at home. Do you know how DANGEROUS that is from a psychological standpoint. What about counselling before testing. HIV is not just any other disease, it can lead to severe initial reactions, eg. suicide!!
I don’t think HIV is the “death sentence” it once was, and I have to believe more people are aware of that than before.
I would also venture to say a large percentage of the people who aren’t ready to hear the diagnosis from a physician wouldn’t be ready to take the test at home either. I think this is an opportunity for the people who know they should get tested routinely, but find excuses not to make it to a clinic, to run to their local pharmacy and pick one up as casually as they would a pregnancy test, and consult a physician/call the hotline if necessary.
Plus, from reading the article, if there was a danger to be concerned with, it most certainly has to be that of false negatives (the test is only 92% accurate in identifying HIV positive test subjects, compared to 99.9% accurate in identifying HIV negative test subjects), which means 1/12 people who take this test might forgo retesting 3-6 months later because of a false sense of security from a negative result.