WILLIAMS DRAWS ATTENTION TO NATIONAL HIV/AIDS TESTING DAY

HARRISBURG, JUNE 14 – Later this month state Sen. Connie Williams will host a news conference important for every citizen of Pennsylvania. On June 27^th in the Media Center in the state Capitol, she will draw attention to National HIV/AIDS Testing Day.

Today, she introduced a resolution, which gained wide bipartisan support, declaring June 27^th HIV/AIDS Testing Day in Pennsylvania.

“The message is direct – take the test and take control,” Williams said. “There is a stigma that often is attached to HIV/AIDS. That stigma – along with fear and lack of knowledge about the disease – has prevented many people from taking the one step that could save their lives. That one step – the first, and possibly most important step – is to get tested.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that more than a million Americans are living with the virus that causes AIDS. This may be the first time the one million mark has been passed since the height of the epidemic in the 1980s.  The CDC estimates that more than one-quarter of the people living with HIV have not been diagnosed. And in an upcoming scientific paper the CDC will show the correlation between new infections and the number of people who do not know they are infected because even though they may be in a high-risk category, they weren’t tested, or they were tested but did not return for their results.

There are a number of testing options and a variety of HIV antibody tests. Testing can be confidential, so that only those in the medical community and state Health Department will have access to test results, or tests can by anonymous. Anonymous testing, which is available in Pennsylvania, allows test results to be assigned random numbers at the time of testing. Individuals know their number and will learn the results, but their anonymity remains. Anonymous testing is available in 39 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

Types of tests range from the standard blood test, which was the first antibody test developed, to swabs of the mouth, urine samples, rapid HIV antibody tests and do-it-yourself home testing kits.

For more information about testing sites and locations visit www.hivtest.org -- the Web site is sponsored by the CDC. Additionally, the CDC sponsors a national hotline to refer people to testing sites at 1-800-342-AIDS. The Pennsylvania Department of Health has an AIDS Factline at 1-800-662-6080.