Release Date: November 26, 2008
Contact: Christine Patmon, Metro Health Public Relations Manager, 207-8638
World AIDS Day 2008 to Focus on the Importance of HIV Testing
Metro Health event features rapid test demo and AIDS education specialist
More than 250,000 Americans are living with HIV and do not know it, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate. With that statistic underscoring the importance of being tested for the disease, Metro Health will feature a regional AIDS education specialist and demonstration of the ORAQUICK ADVANCE® rapid HIV test on World AIDS Day (WAD). WAD 2008 will be observed on Monday, December 1. Metro Health activities are scheduled from 9:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. at the Central Library Auditorium, 600 Soledad.
Dr. Henry Pacheco, project director with the Texas/Oklahoma AIDS Education & Training Center, will be the keynote speaker. He will discuss Routine HIV Testing in Health Care Settings: Saving Lives & Defeating the Epidemic. His address will follow a presentation on the epidemiology of AIDS in Bexar County and a demonstration of the rapid HIV test at approximately 10:00 a.m.
Metro Health will provide a free rapid test to anyone requesting it only on World AIDS Day at both the library and the STD/HIV clinic at 332 W. Commerce. The test provides results in 20-minutes and does not require a needlestick. Metro Health routinely uses this method when testing individual contacts during field investigations. The rapid test also is used daily by community-based organizations, which like Metro
Health, will provide HIV testing during World AIDS Day.
Nearly 4,200 people are knowingly living with HIV or AIDS in Bexar County.
The number of new cases of people reported to be infected rose to 449 last year, increasing from 415 in 2006. Hundreds of others probably have the disease and have not been diagnosed. Individuals who are HIV positive but do not realize it can not benefit from the treatments available or protect their partners. Anyone testing positive while receiving services at Metro Health will be given counseling and referral services.
For more information on HIV/STD services, call 207-8830 or click here..
