Know the Facts – Home HIV Test With the FDA’s Seal of Approval

January 29th, 2010  

HIV Testing is an important thing, for the individual and society as a whole.  Why say this?  Because of this sobering finding for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention on HIV awareness:

Early diagnosis of HIV infection can delay progression to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and reduce transmission of HIV to others. Nonetheless, in 2006, an estimated 232,700 persons, 21% of those living with HIV infection in the United States, were not aware of their HIV infection status.

There are many options available, including any of our home AIDS tests.  But there is one thing you should definitely be aware of…

Make sure your test is FDA APPROVED!!!

We say this because there are other tests available online, some using saliva instead of blood, that are marketed as home HIV tests.  But these tests are not FDA Approved.  When you are looking for a test as important as an HIV test, it is necessary to know that the FDA has approved it and that you are in good hands.  Home Health Testing ONLY sells FDA Approved home HIV kits.  All of our AIDS tests come with telephone support for your results questions too.

So keep that in mind – make sure your test is FDA Approved!  Home Health Testing makes sure that all of our products in the Home HIV test category certainly are.

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Regular HIV Testing Means the Possibility of Better Treatment

January 18th, 2010  

While a lot of awareness has been created about the spread of HIV and how HIV’s spread can be controlled and abated, there is still a lot of work to be done. In 2006, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that about 20 percent of HIV-infected people in the US do not know their status because they have not been tested.

HIV testing is essential for everyone for more reasons than one. By detecting HIV status early in life, you can ensure appropriate monitoring of the condition, obtain adequate and relevant health care and ensure that you can extend your life in a healthy manner. In addition, early detection can also help in avoiding the spread of the HIV from you on to others.

Many people are simply not aware that regular and timely HIV testing is key to early detection. The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone between the age of 13 and 64 years should be given the option of HIV testing as part of the regular annual health check up. Specific communities with a higher incidence of HIV/AIDS should ensure that they get HIV testing done more often.

For some this may be easier said than done, and the process of going to a clinic may cause a lot of discomfort. This certainly should not hold you back any longer though because today one has the option of choosing a home AIDS test. Home HIV testing can help you gain the courage to actually test and determine your status.

The home HIV test is FDA approved and ensures complete privacy. All that you need to do is to send in your sample and keep the unique and anonymous code that is assigned to the home HIV test kit. The results of the test can be obtained over the phone by calling a toll free number. Whether you want the results of the home HIV test sent to you by mail or email is a complete matter of choice and can be determined over the phone.

The confidential aspect of home HIV testing can make all the difference for someone who wants and needs to be tested. It is hoped that more people will choose to take this completely private and confidential test instead of foregoing testing at all. In this way they can get adequate treatment to delay the onset of AIDS and make lifestyle changes that will stop the spread of the virus as well.

–  Anne Hamilton

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Commemorate World AIDS Day

December 1st, 2009  

Today is World AIDS Day, a great opportunity to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and its effects on local and global populations.  If you love surfing the web, it’s really hard to miss – Google has its AIDS ribbon, and on both twitter and Facebook you can “go red” (check out JoinRed for more information).  What we want to do to draw attention to this epidemic today is talk about home hiv testing, which has become so easy with the advent of the home hiv test.

Of course testing is important in terms of protecting yourself and others from HIV/AIDS.  As I blogged about earlier, public health experts encourage everyone to get HIV tested.  But as the Washington Post reports in “WHO: Treat HIV Patients Sooner,” it is also important to know your status because early treatment is extremely important.

Although this applies mostly to non-Western countries, the World Health Organization has just issued new guidance suggesting AIDS patients should begin taking drugs a year or two earlier (and of course, you can’t do this if you don’t take an AIDS test and find out if you are positive!).  “In most erectile dysfunction Western countries, doctors start treating HIV patients when their CD4 count is about 500″ the article says, and the WHO is trying to encourage everyone to begin medication at higher CD4 count levels (the previous recommendation was 200; now it is 350), CD4 being a measure of the immune system, and CD4 tests being an important aspect of HIV treatment.

So, as the WHO encourages early treatment just in time for World AIDS Day, we encourage early detection, which can be done in a clinic or anonymously at home with a home HIV test.  Home testing is just as accurate as testing done in the hospital – and you can learn more about it by reading our Home HIV Testing resources or either of our product pages (Express Home HIV Test Kit or the Standard Home HIV Test Kit).  We hope that as World AIDS Day raises awareness today, we can help raise awareness of the type of options you have at hand to determine your HIV/AIDS status.  Please spread the word about World AIDS Day and take a moment to raise awareness and help stop AIDS today!

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Home HIV Test for World AIDS Day

November 12th, 2009  

World AIDS Day is on December 1 and we are delighted to join the Bloggers Unite event to recognize World AIDS Day.  Although we are still a few weeks away from the event, now is a great time to review some of the facts about HIV/AIDS worldwide and consider taking a home hiv test, if you have not done so yet.  It is one of the best things you can do to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.

In a previous entry about our home aids test, we discussed that in one year (2006) an estimated 56,300 people became infected with HIV.  That is a huge number, and in the spirit of World AIDS Day we’ll look at the numbers internationally.

An estimated 33 million adults in the world were living with HIV internationally.  And that is only adults.  2.5 million children are infected with HIV worldwide.  In Africa the statistics are shocking – in 3 countries nearly 1 in 4 adults anti herpes have HIV.

Prevention and awareness are so important – that’s why we sell a home hiv test, because no matter what, people should know if they are infected.  If you are not sure, perhaps World AIDS Day 2009 will help motivate you to find out.  You can get the testing done at a clinic or have it sent to your house.  If you do the latter, you still have the opportunity to receive counseling over the phone if the results are positive.  And don’t worry, the home aids test is FDA Approved.

We will see you on this blog on December 1 to commemorate World AIDS Day!  Until then, there are many other ways you can show your support, including the purchase of a home hiv test so you can know your status.  If you have any questions about HIV/AIDS you can consult our great information and resources page.

Thank you in advance for your support of World AIDS Day.

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HIV Facts

October 1st, 2009   1 Comment

hiv9halfminfactEvery 9 1/2 minutes, someone in the United States is infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.  A startling fact presented by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).  CDC arrived at the 9½ minutes figure by dividing the number of minutes in one year by the 56,300 new HIV infections that were estimated for 2006. This result indicates that, on average, one new HIV infection occurs every 9.34 minutes in a year.

While many people believe the AIDS epidemic is no longer a public health issue in the USA, these facts present that the epidemic is real:

  • In 2006, an estimated 56,300 people became infected with HIV.
  • More than 1 million people in the United States are living with HIV.
  • Of those 1 million people living with HIV, 1 out of 5 do not know they are infected. (People who have HIV but don’t know it can unknowingly pass the virus to their partners.)
  • Despite new therapies, people with HIV still develop AIDS.
  • Over 1 million people in the United States have been diagnosed with AIDS.
  • More than 14,000 people with AIDS still die each year in the United States.

Before we can stop any epidemic, we first have to realize the magnitude of the disease.  Knowing the facts, protecting yourself, talking with partners and loved ones  about HIV/AIDS and getting tested for HIV are the ways to stop the epidemic.

Visit Act Against AIDS and spread the word.

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Anonymous HIV Testing

September 18th, 2009   3 Comments

If you want private, confidential HIV testing and don’t want to be seen going to a clinic or fear making an appointment with a doctor then you should consider a home HIV test.  The Home Access HIV tests are the only FDA approved home HIV tests, but are they really confidential and anonymous?

The test can be ordered online and paid for by credit card or paypal.  The charges will appear on your credit card statement as “homehealthtesting.com”, but it will not reference which test you purchased.  Your hiv test will be sent via mail or UPS in a plain brown box or in a Priority Mail box with a return address of “MLSC Inc”.  We do not use your information or share your information with any other company and you will not receive emails from us in the future.

When you receive the test, you phone an 800 number to register your kit by the Home Access Code Number printed inside.  The testing laboratory never knows your name, but only the kit number.  Follow the instructions for placing your blood sample in the postage paid mailer and send it to the laboratory.  After shipping your blood sample, you call back on the same toll-free number after either two or seven days (depending on which kit you purchased) and provide the code number and they will give you your results over the phone.  You can also request to speak with a counselor after receiving your results and they will not ask your name.

The 800 number and the code number are printed on a card that you keep after you submit your blood sample.  Since there is no name attached to your test, anyone who has the phone number and the code number can access your results.  Keep the card in a safe, private place until you can call and receive your results.

After receiving your results by phone you can request a written copy to be emailed to you.  The email request will also honor your anonymity if you set up a free private email account (like hotmail or yahoo) without your name and send an email to hivresult@homeaccess.com.  Be sure to provide your code number in the email.  When results are sent via email they are sent in a Portable Document Format (PDF) attachment which includes your Home Access Code Number (HACN) and your result. The email is not sent in encrypted form and therefore your result, HACN and email address could be read by someone on the Internet.   If you have concerns about these limitations you can request your results via U.S. Mail, but then you will have to provide a mailing address for the results.

If you choose the phone results option, then the only trace of the test that you will have is the test kit itself which can be safely discarded in your household garbage or you can take it somewhere else to dispose of the box that clearly says “HIV-1 Test System”.

The Home Access Health Corporation has gone to great lengths to insure your privacy while giving you access to vital health information.  The test is 99.9% accurate and you can find out your test results from a phone call and it will remain completely confidential since the testing lab will never know your name.

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