Keepings teens safe from HIV
When it comes to HIV/AIDS the mantra has always been: get tested.
But some doctors warn that not all tests are created equal. Sometimes a negative test can give a false sense of security to both doctors and patients, particularly for risk-taking teenagers, said Dr. Allison Agwu, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.
Rapid HIV tests are designed to pick up antibodies to the virus, not the virus itself. It can take weeks or months for someone to produce antibodies. So a rapid test can come up negative the first time, but positive some weeks or months later. False negatives often happen during the earliest and most contagious stages of the infection.
And with teens, those crucial months matter.
“The test is only as good as when you get the test,” said Agwu. “I can’t tell you the number of times I spoke to a patient, and they say, ‘Well I’m negative. And they go on to doing whatever risky behaviors they’ve been doing.”
Of the 53,000 new HIV infections diagnosed each year in the United States, 14 percent of those occurred in 13 to 25-year-olds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And the CDC reported last week that nearly half of all HIV positive teens don’t know they have the virus.
Agwu thinks doctors need to look further, probe deeper about their patients’ risk behaviors and consider a test that detects the virus’ genetic markers rather than relying on antibodies to the virus.
But testing is only part of the broader issue of getting teens to be aware of the dangers of HIV, said Agwu. Doctors and parents need to do a better job talking frankly to teens about sex and the risk for HIV, particularly in a city like Baltimore with higher than average rates of the disease, she said.
There's no doubt that it's touchy territory for parents. Today, an AIDS daignosis is no longer a death sentence and teens are often desensitized to the dangers or think it will never happen to them, Agwu said. There's no easy way to combat this, Agwu admits. But engaging teens in a constant frank conversation about the disease is a start.
Comments
I wonder if most people (not just teens) tested for HIV realize that they are not necessarily "free and clear" if the initial test is negative. This article provides very important information, and it points up the importance of the counseling that should accompany a test for HIV. Understanding the reliability of the test results could have implications for the individual's possible need for treatment as well as the potential for unknowing contagion.
Posted by: MJ | July 8, 2009 4:53 PM
It seems that my friends think that even if they get it, it won't be a bad deal. Don't the medicines make you sick?
Posted by: Geri | July 9, 2009 12:30 PM
HIV is so dangeraous. The people who doesn;t know the cause of that is really painfull.
Posted by: chuckiesd | July 10, 2009 3:03 AM
very timely post. and clearly points up the need for pre- and post-test counlseling to explain the need for safe sex practices always.
Posted by: bxdoc | July 14, 2009 1:09 PM
how do you get it
Posted by: lashawn | November 3, 2009 9:59 AM