The goal: Testing for all

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It's a simple test, requiring a pin prick to draw a drop of blood, or maybe a gentle swab of the gums.

But the social stigma is so great that many people never find out whether they are infected with human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, which attacks blood cells crucial to the immune system and leads to AIDS.

"There are a lot of worried people out there who avoid being tested," said David Allen, co-director of Canticle Ministries in Wheaton, an organization that provides transitional housing to people living with HIV. Allen, a certified HIV tester and counselor, is a volunteer at the Dupage County Health Department who is committed to offering communitywide testing, such as a free event in DuPage on June 25.



"Even people who have engaged in risky behaviors don't want to ask their primary caregivers for a test," agreed Dr. David Tewes, president of Serenity House Counseling Services Inc., an addiction treatment facility in Addison.

But, he said, "HIV testing is an integral part of what we do" because addicts often have engaged in risky behavior such as sharing needles or having unprotected sex.

"If they test positive, it's a very good incentive not to relapse because we can keep them connected to treatment," he said. "We educate them about HIV. It's a treatable, livable illness."

The availability of antiretroviral therapies means that a positive HIV test result is no longer a death sentence. Early entry into treatment, however, is vital. Antiretroviral drugs significantly reduce viral load, not only protecting the immune system from attack but reducing the likelihood of infecting someone else.

HIV is passed from one person to another through blood, semen, vaginal fluids or breast milk.

Shortly after being infected with HIV, some people experience flulike symptoms as their bodies develop antibodies to fight the virus. Others have no symptoms at all. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 97 percent of infected persons develop detectable antibodies within the first three months of exposure.

"There is less fear and less press about HIV, but it is still very much with us," Allen said.

While the AIDS pandemic is often seen as an issue in Africa, there are parts of the U.S. with a higher prevalence of HIV infection than in hard-hit countries there. A recent article in The New England Journal of Medicine reported that the number of adults living with HIV in Washington, D.C., for example, is higher than that in Ethiopia, Nigeria or Rwanda.

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