The Medical Route:The Take-Home HIV Test

Forrest Gump is one of my favorite movies. Watching Forrest blithely travel through decades of US history certainly has its moments of hilarity. It touches on the Desegregation, the War in Vietnam, and, of course, AIDS. When Forrest goes to visit Jenny at her apartment and learns he has a son, Jenny also mentions that she is ill.

Jenny Curran: Forrest, I'm sick.
Forrest Gump: What, do you have a cough due to a cold?
Jenny Curran: I have some kind virus. And the doctors don't, they don't know what it is. And there isn't anything they can do about it.
Forrest Gump: You could come home with me. Jenny, you and little Forrest could come stay at my house in Greenbow. I'll take care of you if you're sick.
Jenny Curran: Would you marry me, Forrest?
Forrest Gump: [pause] Okay.

Forrest, the loveable character that he is, promises to take care of her. This touching reunion between Forrest and Jenny also subtley conveys the enormity of the creeping AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. AIDS, acquired immune deficiency syndrome, was discovered in 1981 when doctors began to investigate an increase in cases of Karposi's Sarcome, an extremely rare type of cancer, and Pneumocystitis carinii, a rare fungal oppurtunistic infection that causes pneumonia presented. The CDC formed a task force on Karposi's sarcoma and orther rare oppurtunistic infection. At this time, the AIDS stigma grew its first shoot. Dr Curran of the CDC Karposi's Syndrome reportatedly this message to the New York Times in 1981:

"The best evidence against contagion is that no cases have been reported to date outside the homosexual community or in women"

Of course, this statement was wrong. Just a few months later, cases of AIDS were reported in injecting drug users. But the stigma stuck. It lingers even today. Not only is AIDS still associated with members of the GLBT community, misconceptions of HIV transmission linger as well. There are 3 ways an individual can contract AIDS: injection, sexual contact, and maternal-fetal transmission. However, many individuals still believe that AIDS may be transmitted via fomites (toilet seats, bathroom counters, etc.), personal contact (hugging, holding hands, etc.), or simply by living in the same house with an infected individual. These stigmas prevent people from getting tested because they are afraid they will be associated with the disease.

According to the CDC, there are approximately 1.2 million people in the U.S. that have HIV and approximately 240,000 of them are unaware of their status. Those who do not know they are HIV positive are disproportionately responsible for the 50,000 new HIV infections that occur each year.

 

Hopefully, the new OraQuick Test will provide the privacy patients desire when getting tested.

The newly-FDA approved over-the-counter test is the only of its kind. How does it work? The user simply swabs the inside of their mouth to test for HIV antibodies. The test delivers results in 20 minutes.

When a person is infected with HIV, their body produces antibodies to help fight the disease. These antibodies recognize specific disease proteins called antigen proteins. These antigen proteins are presented by antigen-presenting plasma cells. T cells recognize these antigen proteins and activate the body’s immune responses. These antibodies circulate through the blood. They can also be found in a fluid in your mouth near the gum line known as oral mucosal transudate (OMT). After the individual swabs an OMT sample, the sample may be tested on an indicator strip for HIV antibodies via an enzyme that binds to them, which results in a color change when positive.

The OraQuick test could decrease the prevalence of new HIV infection simply through patient awareness. However, there is one fly in the ointment. According to a New York Times article on the subject, users have an 8% chance of false positive results. When using this test, be sure to get your results confirmed by a doctor.

Despite this glitch, the test is still an enormous breakthrough. One big reason to get tested is to get AIDS patients on antiviral drugs as soon as possible. According to The New York Times, AIDS/HIV patients placed on retroviral drugs lowers their transmission rate by 96%. This test will also hopefully help more patients receive care.