Friday is day set aside for national HIV testingBy Jill Coley (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Can you tell whether a person has HIV? Go to www.posornot.com and test yourself. Get testedLowcountry AIDS Services will offer free HIV testing today from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 3547 Meeting Street Road, North Charleston. Also, Lowcountry AIDS Services will be giving fee HIV tests from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday in the student lounge at Trident Technical College Palmer Campus, 6 Columbus St., Charleston. For more information call 747-2273. The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control will administer free HIV tests from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday at 2070 Northbrook Blvd., North Charleston. For more information, call 1-800-322-2437 or visit www.scdhec.gov/stdhiv/. Friday is a red-ribbon day, when public health officials want you to do more than reflect on HIV, they want you to get tested for the virus that causes AIDS. National HIV Testing Day is one of nine annual HIV awareness days, which include days dedicated to different races and to developing an HIV vaccine. "People can be walking around and positive and not really know they are," said Virginia King, director of prevention services at Lowcountry AIDS Services. "They put themselves at risk for the virus to impact their lives to a great degree. And they potentially put others at risk." An estimated 250,000 people in the United States have HIV and are not aware of it, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. About 15,000 of those people are estimated to live in South Carolina, the state Department of Health and Environmental Control said. The Human Immunodeficiency Virus is spread through sexual contact, sharing needles and can also be transmitted from mothers to babies during pregnancy and breastfeeding. The virus affects the body's immune system; symptoms, including swollen lymph glands, fatigue and fever, can take years to develop. "Getting people tested is the first step in linking infected people to appropriate care, treatment and prevention services," said Barbara Charles, DHEC's HIV counseling and testing program coordinator. HIV remains a major public health threat, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The impact is severe in the black and Latino community and among gay and bisexual men of all races, said Kevin Fenton, director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS. Knowing your HIV status is important, especially if you've never had a test before, King said. People are scared to get tested because of the stigma still associated with the virus, she said. But people with the virus are living longer. "HIV's becoming a chronic disease that requires total adherence to medication and good health," King said. |
Article tools |
|
Notice about comments: Charleston.net is pleased to offer readers the ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. Charleston.net does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not charleston.net. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "suggest removal" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website. Full terms and conditions can be read here. |
Comments
This article has 19 comment(s)
Posted by Girleygirl on June 26, 2008 at 10:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
GET OUT AND GET TESTED, if you have not done so yet!
Know your status!
Posted by summerville_guy on June 26, 2008 at 10:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Or, even better, DON'T DO THINGS THAT COULD EXPOSE YOU TO HIV!
Posted by LowcountryLady on June 26, 2008 at 10:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
summerville, that's ignorant. anyone that's not a virgin is at risk.
Posted by drp7773 on June 26, 2008 at 11:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Aids can take 10 years or more to show up, did you do everything right 10 years ago? are you sure??? every year I get a physical which includes blood work, my doctor always put down aids testing with everything else....People.to know is to love to not know is to kill.....Get tested.
Posted by Yeah_I_said_it on June 26, 2008 at 11:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I get tested at each of my yearly physicals. Like Lowcountrylady said, "anyone that's not a virgin is at risk."
I said yesterday in response to summerville_guy's comment about not engaging in drug use and whoring around that you can never be 100% sure that your partner isn't doing these things.
Posted by SCdeacinNYC on June 26, 2008 at 11:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Exactly "Yeah_I_said_it" you may not be "putting yourself at risk", but what is your partner doing. This isn't the 1980s, we know about AIDS and how it is transmitted and it's not always the person's fault that they got it. And no the disease does not discriminate it affects people from all walks of life and all different lifestyles and it certainly isn't a punishment for misdeeds. Because if that were the case, most people would have already been infected!
Posted by Early on June 26, 2008 at 11:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Just say NO to monkey bunking.
Posted by Tammie on June 26, 2008 at 12:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Early, I am too done with you. Lol
In all seriousness though, I urge everyone to get tested. I get tested every year with my yearly physicals. Like I tell my brothers, don't stick your spoon in everyone's pudding. Everyone they've slept with, you're sleeping with them too. Don't do drugs either!
Posted by Test2007 on June 26, 2008 at 1:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Exactly Tammie, you're sleeping with whoever they slept with in the past, plus whoever THEY slept with and so on. It is pretty gross when you think about it too much. Oh and don't forget to remind the senior citizens as well. That demographic is getting AIDS at a much higher rate too.
Personally, I blame viagra.
Posted by Tammie on June 26, 2008 at 2:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Lol@ Test...Cialis too!
Posted by Test2007 on June 26, 2008 at 2:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I remember listening to a comedian (female) talk about how men have been working on viagra for years way ahead of cancer, TB or the common cold. She said anything they cured along the way they stumbled across it trying to find viagra.
Posted by Yeah_I_said_it on June 26, 2008 at 2:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
SCdeacinNYC: "it's not always the person's fault that they got it....the disease does not discriminate it affects people from all walks of life and all different lifestyles and it certainly isn't a punishment for misdeeds. Because if that were the case, most people would have already been infected!"
This is beyond the truth. Some people look at this as a disease for the promiscuous and the drug addicts. But more and more we see innocent people contracting the disease from a partner that they trusted was doing the right thing and then they find out that they are either low down or on the down low. And then some of them move on to other relationships after having left the previous one not knowing if they have gotten infected or not, thus the risk of the other person getting infected is higher because both are going into this thing completely blind.
My husband and I both were tested before we got married and we are still getting tested yearly because, as it was already mentioned, it takes up to 10 years for the virus to show up and most of us weren't as cautious back then as we are now.
Posted by ColdBeer on June 26, 2008 at 2:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I can personaly verify that MOST of the single women living in the low country back in the mid to late 80's and early 90's were NOT passing on the HIV virus :)
Posted by Yeah_I_said_it on June 26, 2008 at 3:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
ColdBeer,
You are just shameless, completely shameless :-) !
Posted by katrenavantassle on June 26, 2008 at 4:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
My GOODNESS COLDBEER YOU ARE ON A ROLL TODAY AS USUAL. THIS IS THE PLAGUE OF THIS CENTURY. TRUST ME, MORE ARE TO COME.
Posted by walleyedwoman1215 on June 26, 2008 at 6:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Two words: Kimberly Bergalis. She is largely the reason we now have universal precautions in place for ANY invasive procedure, including dental work.
Posted by belovedbliff on June 27, 2008 at 7:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Virgins are at risk. Sex is not the only way to have the virus transmitted.
Also, Yeah, I said it, I find it interesting that you and your spouse are tested yearly. Why? Are you guys in situations that expose you to the virus?
It is unusual for a monogamous married couple to be tested every year.
It does not take 10 years for the virus to show up. Perhaps, you mean to say that it may take up to ten years for full-blown AIDS.
In any event, if your husband and you are monogamous, there would be no real need to get tested every year UNLESS one of you is in situations that expose you to the virus.
Posted by drp7773 on June 27, 2008 at 3:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What bs........I said it can take up to 10 years or more.hense 1 year six years or more it does not always show up right away......and if you have blood work done every year like many many people do they can check it at no extra cost to you with ins. All this is documented but people like you who walk on water and knows all well what else would we expect.
Posted by LadyTarHeel on June 27, 2008 at 3:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
beloved: You are right, it doesn't take 10 years for the virus to show up. They tell you to get tested 3-6 months after you think you've been exposed because it takes that long for antibodies to show up in your blood. And I'm with you on if you are monogamous, you shouldn't have to be tested every year unless you or your partner are doing something to expose yourselves.
Me and the boyfriend got tested at the beginning of the year to be sure neither one of us was putting the other at risk. Know your status and get tested! Sure it can be nerve racking, but it's better to know in order to prevent the spread of HIV!