New Year's Resolution

During this time of year many of us are making reflections of the past year and looking forward to making improvements within ourselves in the new year to come. With the beginning of 2009 upon us I feel it is vital to know your HIV status.

Whether you are in a relationship or not, knowing your status can put you at ease and help you make wiser choices within the new year.


Reasons to get tested:

1. If you’re negative, you can stop worrying about the test and focus on staying negative.
2. If you’re positive, you can get support from friends and family.
3. If you’re positive, you can protect your sexual partners and discuss your HIV status.
4. If you're positive, you can focus on staying healthy via treatments and healthier lifestyle.
5. If you're positive, you can gain access to professional, medical and social support.
6. If you pregnant and positive, you can take treatments to reduce the chance of passing HIV to your baby.
7. Knowing your status, might help control the spread of HIV. HIV is mostly transmitted by people unaware of their status.
8. Knowing your status puts you back in control.

Once infected with HIV a person can become infectious very rapidly (within a day or so), but they will normally have to wait a while before an HIV test will produce an accurate result.

Most tests that offered at HIV Testing Sites will be an HIV antibody test. The HIV antibody test looks for antibodies to the virus in a person's blood. For most people these antibodies take 6 weeks to 3 months to develop. In rare cases, it can take up to 6 months.

Getting tested before 3 months have elapsed may result in an unclear test result, as an infected person may not yet have developed antibodies to HIV. These 3 months are known as the window period. So it is best to wait for at least 3 months after the last time you were at risk before taking the test.

If you are waiting to take an HIV antibody test, it is vital that you do not put yourself at risk through further exposures to HIV during this time period. This means you should practise safe sex and not share needles.

Click here for a testing sites within the United States.

Source: State of New York Department of Health, National HIV and STD Testing Resource Website