With the passage of another National HIV Testing Day June 27, the Cincinnati Health Department is reporting a drop in the number of people seeking free, anonymous tests.
While the theories explaining the drop vary, many suggest that because drugs now are keeping people with AIDS alive longer, society at large is living with a false sense of security creating by the perception that the threat of AIDS is on the decline.
It is true that the number of AIDS-related deaths and the number of people being diagnosed with AIDS have dropped.
But medications now in use, which can possibly kill most of the HIV virus in the body so that none of the virus is found in a person’s blood, most likely are blurring the statistics, said Dr. Judith Daniels, medical director at the Cincinnati Health Department.
“With medication, people may stay HIV-positive longer before being diagnosed with AIDS,” Daniels said.
The virus, however, always remains. Even with successful drug treatments, a person is never cured of the HIV or AIDS virus, Daniels said.
AIDS still is a threat to all sexually active individuals and IV drug users, which is why free and anonymous testing is stressed. It has been found that people are more likely to get tested when this form of testing is offered. Therefore, people test earlier, and the earlier you detect HIV or AIDS in a person’s blood, the better chance he or she has of living a longer life.
Amy Genagon, communications coordinator for Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky, said that the AIDS epidemic is “worse than ever.”
In fact, she said, between 650,000 and 900,000 Americans now are living with HIV, but a disheartening one-fifth to one-third of the U.S. population has been tested. Too many sexually active adults are living with HIV or AIDS unknowingly, she said.
One statistic reports that an average of two young people are infected with HIV every hour of every day. In 1998, Planned Parenthood did slightly more than 900 HIV tests in the Southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky area, Genagon said. Most people were in the 20-29 year age group, a sliver of the entire Greater Cincinnati population.
In Cincinnati, two types of tests are offered. Confidential HIV testing, which discreetly handle test results between physician and the state health department. The patient’s name is not used unless he or she signs a release form. Once the form is signed, results become part of the patient’s medical record, allowing it to be seen by schools and employers.
Anonymous HIV testing is different in Ohio than some other states. Here, a person who is anonymously tested is identified to the state by their race, sex and age. This form of anonymous testing allows double counting for those who test more than once, and therefore results in erroneous statistics.
In the future, Ohio will be deciding whether or not to convert to the unique identifier system, which will be used by all health clinics in Ohio. Each tested patient would be given the same unique identifier no matter what clinic they entered, preventing double counting and providing more accurate statistics. ©
Cincinnati Health Department
513-357-7300
3101 Burnet Ave., Clifton
Planned Parenthood
513-721-2313
2314 Auburn Ave., Mount Auburn
Clermont Center
513-752-1910
834 Ohio Pike, Batavia
Hamilton Center
513-856-8332
11 Ludlow Ave., Hamilton
This article appears in Jun 30 – Jul 6, 1999.