Why You Need an HIV Test

Sept. 25, 2007 — -- You go every year for your regular medical checkup. Your doctor performs a thorough medical history and physical examination. You expect to discuss how to maintain medical fitness and possibly have blood drawn to check your cholesterol.

But you are surprised when you doctor asks you if you want to have an HIV test. Your immediate thought may be: "I'm not at risk for HIV. This happens to other people."

For more than 1 million people in the United States, however, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) -- the virus that causes AIDS -- is a grim reality. Of those infected, approximately 25 percent aren't aware that they are HIV positive.

And each year there are approximately 40,000 new HIV infections in the United States, most of which are transmitted by those 25 percent who do not know that they are infected. It is a situation that last year spurred the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to revise recommendations for HIV testing to better control the HIV epidemic.

It has been more than 25 years since we first heard about a new disease -- one which was lethal, sexually transmitted, and blood-borne.

Stigma soon arose from the disease called AIDS, as it emerged initially among gay and bisexual men, as well as those who used intravenous recreational drugs. A diagnosis of HIV back then meant near certain death in a relatively short period of time -- and being viewed by others with fear and discrimination.

Fortunately, over the past decade, we have seen the emergence of new and improved therapies which have dramatically extended the lives of people with HIV infection. What was once a uniformly fatal disease can now be managed as a chronic condition in which people can live for many years, even decades.

A person infected with HIV may have a mild flu-like illness with sore throat and fatigue for a few weeks after becoming infected. People may attribute these symptoms to the flu or another virus and never go to see a physician.