Test Early And Often
Tuesday, September 26 2006
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Test Early and Often
This past week, the Center for Disease Control announced a plan to get more people tested for HIV/AIDS. The Center estimates that one million people are living with HIV in the U.S. Yet twenty-five percent of HIV-positive people don't know they're infected. That amounts to 250,000 people who are unaware that they have a disease which, if untreated, will kill them, and potentially infect others.
"We urgently need new approaches to reach the quarter-million Americans with HIV who do not realize they are infected. People with HIV have a right to know that they are infected so they can seek treatment and take steps to protect themselves and their partners"
- CDC Director Julie Gerberding
Beverly Dupree of Fairfield, California knows all too well how true this statistic is. She lost her son Loren Andre Evans to AIDS in May. She says Loren was in denial about even having AIDS even until his death.
Tom Donohue is also one of the statistics, unaware of his own HIV infection. Raised in a small town in Pennsylvania, Tom learned about HIV the hard way, by contracting it. Tom was diagnosed with HIV in October 2003. He is now an outspoken proponent of early and repeated testing. Today, Tom Donohue is the founder and executive director of Who's Positive, a national, non-profit organization focused on HIV awareness and prevention.
- The CDC recommends that "diagnostic HIV testing and opt-out HIV screening be a part of routine clinical care in all health-care settings while also preserving the patient's option to decline HIV testing and ensuring a provider-patient relationship conducive to optimal clinical and preventive care." Read all of the recommendations.
- Find out the Operation Get Tested Tour Bus Itinerary.
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