The FDA
has given the green light to the first over-the-counter HIV test that allows
people to test themselves and get results at home.
It is
called OraQuick and it's as simple as a quick mouth swab and a twenty-minute
wait, no more complicated than a home-pregnancy test.
"It's
a very big deal, because it puts complete privacy in the hands of everyone to
be able to get HIV test at home with no inconvenience whatsoever," said Dr.
Richard D'Aquilla of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
More
than a million people in the United States are believed to be infected with HIV
and it's estimated one in five don't know it.
Experts
say accurate testing is the principal reason new HIV cases are holding steady
at about fifty-thousand a year.
"This
really puts the power to stop the HIV epidemic in the hands of every one of
us," said Dr. D'Aquilla.
The
test is about ninety-two percent accurate, meaning about one of every twelve
people with HIV might get a false negative result and a false sense of
security.
Home
tests have been available since 1996
and most have involved blood tests that have to be mailed off to the
lab.
Activists
are hailing a new way to detect HIV yet worry what happens after someone tests
positive.
But in
the absence of a cure it's a giant leap toward preventing the spread of HIV.
