HIV Counseling and Testing :: Consider being tested

Should I consider being tested for HIV?

Knowing your HIV status has two vital benefits. First, if you know you are HIV infected, you can receive medical treatment even before symptoms appear. Second, you can take all necessary precautions to prevent spreading HIV to others. For those who feel ready to test because they have been exposed to HIV through unprotected sex or the sharing of unclean needles, there are many testing options.

There are also reasons why people choose not to test even though they might have been at risk: some might not feel ready to get a positive test result; managing HIV might compromise their emotional health or their recovery status.

The following behaviors have been linked to HIV infection. Therefore, if you answer Yes to one or more of these questions, you may be at risk for HIV infection.

• Have you had a sexually transmitted disease within the past five years, such as chlamydia, human papaloma virus (genital warts), gonorrhea, syphilis, hepatitis B, or C, or herpes?
• Have you ever paid a person to have sex?
• Have you ever exchanged sex for money, drugs, alcohol or a place to stay?
• Are any of your current or past sex partners HIV positive?
• Have you had unprotected vaginal, anal or oral sex in the last three months with anyone whose HIV status you didn't know?
• Have you shared sex toys with others?
• Have you ever used an unsterile needle to inject drugs into your veins or under your skin?
• Have you ever shared needles or works with others?
• Have any of your current or past sex partners ever injected drugs into their veins or under their skin?

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have announced a campaign for universal HIV screening of all pregnant women. And though physicians are encouraged to include HIV testing as part of standard prenatal care (because early treatment with combination antiretroviral regimens can lower rates of transmission from a mother to her fetus from 25% to between 0% - 8%) it is still not mandatory in Vermont for pregnant women to be tested.

All testing in Vermont requires consent. You will be asked to sign that you understand specific information about the testing procedure and the meaning of the results. There are only a few exceptions where testing may be required: immigration, Job Corps, the armed forces or prisons.

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