HIV Testing

Many people do not realize that they are infected with the HIV virus. Less than 1% of urban population in Africa are sexually active has been tested for HIV, and the percentage is even less in rural areas. In addition, only 0.5% of women who came to contain urban public health facilities to obtain guidance on AIDS, underwent the examination, or receive their test results. This figure is even smaller in rural public health facilities.  Thus, the blood of donors and blood products used for treatment and medical research, should always be examined HIV contamination.

Common HIV tests, including HIV enzyme imunoasai and Western blot testing, performed to detect HIV antibodies in serum, plasma, oral fluid, dried blood, or urine of patients. However, the period between infection and the development of infection-fighting antibodies that can detect (window period) for each person may vary. This is why it takes 3-6 months to determine seroconversion and positive test results. There are also commercial tests to detect other HIV antigens, HIV-RNA, and HIV-DNA, which can be used to detect HIV infection despite the development of antibodies can not be detected. Although these methods are not specifically approved for the diagnosis of HIV infection, but has been used routinely in developed countries.