ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, September 4, 1996 TAG: 9609040084
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
The first kits allowing people to test themselves at home for the AIDS virus have gone on sale at some Virginia pharmacies. A second brand of test kits is expected to reach store shelves this month.
Health officials estimate 15,000 Virginians are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus and don't know it. But the home tests can present problems that some people may not be prepared to deal with.
The kits, sold under the brand names Home Access Express and Confide, were approved last spring by the Food and Drug Administration.
Virginia health professionals have expressed support for home HIV tests because they may encourage more people to test themselves for the deadly disease.
But the home test kits don't provide anyone to help cushion the shock for people who discover they are infected.
``The issue with home testing doesn't have to do with the accuracy of the test - it has to do with fact that there will not be any face-to-face counseling before or after the test,'' said Dr. Lisa Kaplowitz, director of the HIV-AIDS Center at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
``Getting a positive test is extremely stressful,'' she said. Some people may become suicidal, and immediate, intensive counseling is imperative, she said.
In addition, people who use the home kits need to remember that a negative reading does not necessarily mean they are not infected. Instruction booklets that accompany both tests stress the precaution.
It can take the virus three weeks to six months after it enters the bloodstream to produce the antibodies that the tests detect.
Since Virginia began requiring doctors and clinics to report each case of HIV and AIDS to state health officials in the 1980s, 14,870 Virginians have tested positive, said Susan S. Pollard, a spokeswoman for the state Health Department.
State health clinics offer anonymous and confidential HIV testing free of charge at 20 sites statewide.
Besides drug stores, the home HIV test kids also will be available by mail. Home Access Health Corp. and Johnson & Johnson both offer toll-free numbers from which the tests can be ordered.
The test kits first went on sale in June in Texas, which was the first test market because of its diverse population and its high number of HIV cases. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that sales of the kits have been sluggish in the first two months.
The kits sell for $40 to $50. To take the test, a customer must prick his finger with an enclosed lancet and place a blood specimen on a card coded with an identification number. The card is mailed in a protective envelope to a laboratory. After about a week, customers may call a toll-free number and use the code number they are given to make sure the results they receive are confidential. Counselors are available by phone to explain the implications.
LENGTH: Medium: 59 linesby CNB