June 27 is National HIV Testing Day
(CNN) – June 27 is National HIV Testing Day, a time to encourage people to learn their status.
Early HIV diagnosis is critical, especially with advances in treatment for the disease.
However, experts say many who have HIV are not aware they have it.
In the U.S., about 1.2 million people have HIV, but about 13% of them don’t know it and haven’t been tested.
Dr. Patricia Couto, an expert in infectious diseases with Orlando Health Medical Group, says, “It’s important if you’re not HIV positive and you are at risk for acquisition of HIV so that way you can be on medications to prevent HIV infection or if you’re HIV positive, that you can go to your physician and get treatment for the virus.”
Couto says it’s often the stigma of this disease that stops people from getting tested, but she says self-testing kits make the process discreet.
They’re available online, in most commercial pharmacies or can be requested through a healthcare provider.
She says the test is simple and done at home with a sample from the person’s mouth.
It’s then sent off for results.
Couto says, “It disproportionately affects patient populations, especially the African American and the Latino community, and it’s difficult sometimes for patients to ask for help or even to consider testing.”
That’s why Couto says normalizing and encouraging testing is so important.
If a patient is HIV positive, decades of research and breakthroughs allow for treatment to help preserve their immune system for a healthy life.
Couto says, “If you know your status, if you take care of it, it’s, it’s no different than any other medical condition.”
Health officials say people who get a negative HIV test result can also be empowered to protect themselves in the future. Prevention tools are available, including prep or pre-exposure prophylaxis, condoms and other sexual health services like vaccines and testing for sexually transmitted diseases.
To learn about testing sites in Kentucky on National HIV Testing Day, click here.
