CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Health officials in Seattle last week began a trial run of using rapid HIV testing kits in public settings to help determine how people will react to receiving their results in public, The Boston Globe reports. The Seattle study is hoping to lay the groundwork for expanded rapid testing in such venues as gay bathhouses and sex clubs. The OraQuick rapid tests being used can provide results in about 20 minutes. Seattle health officials are concerned that those who receive a positive test result in a public venue may not have immediate access to needed post-test counseling on how to cope with the diagnosis and on the next steps to take to get medical care. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced in April that the agency is diverting funding and other resources to more widespread HIV testing programs in an effort to identify the estimated one third of the nation's 1 million HIV-positive people who are unaware that they are infected. The agency is urging local health departments and HIV/AIDS organizations to use the rapid HIV tests to help encourage people to be tested and to wait just 20 minutes for their results. Standard HIV tests often require those being tested to wait up to a week or longer for their results, and studies have shown that a high percentage of people tested never return to receive their results. A previous study in Seattle offered standard HIV antibody tests at three gay venues in the city but required the men being tested to return a week later to receive their results. Of the 56 men whose blood samples tested positive for HIV antibodies, 15 did not return for their results. "If we had been using a rapid test, those people would have at least received preliminary positive results and would have been informed of the need to return to our clinic for confirmatory results," said Frank Chaffee, HIV/AIDS program manager for the Seattle-King County department of public health. But some AIDS activists are worried that the new CDC rapid testing initiative does not include adequate pre- and post-test counseling components, particularly for those who test in public places like bars, sex clubs, and bathhouses where trained HIV/AIDS counselors are not on hand. CDC officials say the agency is reviewing its counseling strategies but note that they still believe widespread use of the rapid tests needs to begin soon.
Want more breaking equality news & trending entertainment stories?
Check out our NEW 24/7 streaming service: the Advocate Channel!
Download the Advocate Channel App for your mobile phone and your favorite streaming device!
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
Meet all 37 of the queer women in this season's WNBA
April 17 2024 11:24 AM
Here are the 15 gayest travel destinations in the world: report
March 26 2024 9:23 AM
21+ steamy photos of Scotland’s finest gay men in Elska Glasgow
February 01 2024 10:07 PM
More Than 50 of Our Favorite LGBTQ+ Moms
May 12 2024 11:44 AM
Conjoined twins Lori Schappell and trans man George Schappell dead at 62
April 27 2024 6:13 PM
Latest Stories
Joe Biden sends queer lawmakers & LGBTQ+ allies to Paris Olympics
July 24 2024 12:08 PM
Kamala Harris rides wave of Democratic energy at kickoff event in Wisconsin
July 23 2024 3:36 PM
'Devastated:' A six-week abortion ban will go into effect in Iowa next week
July 23 2024 2:28 PM
Four hours, 44,000 Black women, and one Zoom call
July 23 2024 2:17 PM
Record 1.2 million people show out for Cologne’s Pride parade
July 23 2024 10:51 AM