Just recently the United States Food and Drug Administration have approved the first ever over-the counter Human immunodeficiency virus test. OraQuick is the name of this rapid antibody test. OraQuick allows buyers to take the test in the privacy of their own home and get results within 20– 40 minutes. Instead of giving a blood sample at a clinic OraQuick only takes a simple mouth swab, the swab is then placed inside a vial solution where easy to read results display moments later.
One of the reasons this product was introduced was to get more people informed about their status. A study done in 2008 by Center for Disease Control and Prevention states more than 1.1 million people in the United States are infected with HIV and about 232,700 don’t know it. The people who are unaware of their positive status cause about 54-70% of the new 56,300 infections annually. CDC also reported that 75% of HIV positive people change their “risky” behaviors when they become aware of their status.
A negative review for this product is that it may show false positive results, so if you were to receive a positive result it is recommended that you follow up with a confirmatory western blot test. OraQuick is going to be released sometime next year, and a price for this product has not been determined yet.
Know your status.
I think this could be a great thing to bring into our society. The more ways available to find out your status the better, hopefully this will be affordable for all.
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