WILLIAMS DRAWS ATTENTION TO NATIONAL HIV/AIDS TESTING DAY

 HARRISBURG, JUNE 27 – State Sen. Connie Williams today asked her colleagues to be pro-active in the fight against HIV/AIDS as 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. The CDC estimates that more than one-quarter of the people living with HIV have not been diagnosed.

 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.

 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.