HIV testing

The only way to know for sure if you have HIV is to have an HIV test. There are several types of tests. Often people have an HIV test as part of a sexual health check-up, or as part of antenatal health checks during pregnancy.

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HIV testing: latest news

HIV testing resources

  • Testing and diagnosis

    Late diagnosis of HIV infection among Africans living in the UK is a major problem, hindering access to antiretroviral treatment at an appropriate time, adding to the likelihood...

    From:HIV & UK African communities

  • HIV testing for babies and children

    It is very important that children born to HIV-positive women are tested for HIV. Ideally, this should happen at birth (see below). But if this...

    From:Booklets

  • HIV testing

    Current approaches to HIV testing are to make it a normal rather than exceptional medical event, for it to be offered in a wide range...

    From:HIV transmission & testing

  • The HIV test

    HIV infection is normally detected using an HIV test. There are different types of test - one test looks for the antibodies the immune system produces to fight...

    From:namlife.org

HIV testing features

HIV testing in your own words

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HIV testing news selected from other sources

  • Chembio, OraSure vie over Over The Counter HIV tests

    Even as a Pennsylvania-based company made news last month by advancing toward approval for an over-the-counter HIV test, a Long Island company is making strides with its own version of the test.

    03 February 2012 | Long Island Business News

  • Kenya: Shortage of HIV Test Kits Raises Concerns

    Voluntary counselling and testing centres around Kenya are turning people away due to a shortage of HIV testing kits after the recall in December of more than one million faulty HIV tests.

    27 January 2012 | IRIN Plus News

  • Rapid HIV Test Results Better With Blood

    A rapid HIV test gives slightly less exact results when used with oral samples than with blood samples, researchers reported.

    25 January 2012 | MedPage Today HIV/AIDS

  • Testing for HIV together, hearing results together

    Newly dating and slightly anxious, two men bared their arms for blood tests and pondered the possibility that one of them, or both, could be infected with HIV. An innovative program — called Testing Together — would allow them to hear their test results minutes later, while sitting side by side.

    18 January 2012 | SFGate

  • Jamaica - More Jamaicans getting tested for HIV, STIs

    THE Ministry of Health's National HIV/STI programme has seen a marked increase in the number of persons getting tested for HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) -- which causes the AIDS -- and other sexually transmitted infections.

    14 January 2012 | Jamaica Observer

  • Ineffective HIV kit not being used in Uganda

    The Uganda's health ministry has confirmed that Bioline, the rapid test kit for HIV/AIDS which has been blacklisted by the World Health Organization (WHO) for being ineffective, is not being used in Uganda. go →

    11 January 2012 | Key Correspondents

  • CDC: 22.6% of Sexually Active Teenagers Are Tested for HIV

    Less than a quarter of teenagers who have had sex have been tested for HIV, according to researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who published their findings online January 2 in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.

    05 January 2012 | Medscape (requires registration)

  • False positive HIV tests: the problem no one wants to talk about (and how to solve it)

    I first came across this unpleasant reality in Bukavu, DRC while working as a medical coordinator for MSF in 2005. We came to realize that some people in our program did not have HIV, so we re-tested a number of them—and identified almost 50 who were suspect for false positive HIV diagnosis. This news was devastating, considering the consequences a false diagnosis can have on people’s lives.

    03 January 2012 | PLoS Blogs

  • OraSure Makes Final FDA Submission For Approval Of OTC Rapid HIV Test

    OraSure Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:OSUR), a market leader in rapid point-of-care infectious disease diagnostics and biological sample collection, stabilization and preparation products, announced today that it has submitted the final of three modules in its application to the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the approval of the Company's OraQuick(R) Rapid HIV-1/2 test for sale in the U.S. consumer or over-the-counter (OTC) market.

    03 January 2012 | OraSure press release

  • Tanzania: De-listed HIV test kits still in use

    While the World Health Organisation (WHO) alert on the invalid rapid HIV test kits 'SD Bioline' went out last month to all Global Funds recipient nations including Tanzania, the kits are still is use in the country. 

    31 December 2011 | IPPmedia
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Our information levels explained

  • Short and simple introductions to key HIV topics, sometimes illustrated with pictures.
  • Expands on the previous level, but also written in easy-to-understand plain language.
  • More detailed information, likely to include medical and scientific language.
  • Detailed, comprehensive information, using medical and specialised language.