Home Test
FDA approves first HIV test kit for home use
The OraQuick test uses a mouth swab and gives users results at home in 20-40 minutes
After decades of controversy, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new HIV test very recently for the first time that makes it possible for people to learn in the privacy of their homes if they are infected. The availability of an HIV test as easy to use like a home-pregnancy kit is yet another step in the normalisation of a disease that was once seen as a mark of shame and a death sentence. About one person in 5,000 would get a false positive test, and about one person in 12 could get a false negative. Any positive test needs confirmation in a doctor's office, the FDA pointed out and people engaged in high-risk sex should test themselves regularly. Getting an infected person onto antiretroviral (ARV) drugs lowers by as much as 96% the chance that s/he will transmit the virus to someone else, so testing and treatment have become crucial to prevention.
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