Is HIV common in Australia?

Despite having excellent medical facilities and specialist HIV Centers the reality is that HIV is still steadily increasing in Australia.  One contributing factor to this could be the HIV infection rate amongst sex workers in a holiday destinations frequented by Australians.  One sex worker in Bali says “When she goes back to their hotel, many refuse to use a condom. And she never tells them she is HIV positive. It's bad for business.”

She is 27 and pretty and of course the men that she refers to are at considerable risk from HIV infection.  It is a further concern to think that these men return to Australia with the HIV virus and carry on with their sexual behaviour without knowing their HIV status.  Many will not be tested for HIV and Australia as they find a visiting a medical centre and discussing their sexual practices were staff to be inconvenient and embarrassing.  One option that may help in this situation is the use of self testing for HIV using HIV home testing kits.  However has the virus can take several months in some cases to be detectable distal places the Australian public at greater risk from these individuals.  Many individuals in the steady relationships will be unable to explain why they must use protection during sex by the regular partner and regrettably some will then go on to an effect that a partner.

Ideally of course these individuals would not participate in unprotected sex with sex workers or with any partner with him unknown HIV status.  However the reality is that they do and has a result to best protect the Australian public it is clear that we need a variety of testing methods that are convenient and accessible to all individuals and as the at specific needs.

HIV status. It is the not knowing that will cause unnecessary risk of life.

Many individuals considering an HIV test put off or ignore testing for reasons such as privacy and convenience.  This can cause great unnecessary risk for those individuals and others who may be putting themselves at risk without realizing.  It is important that if you for any reason to believe that you have been at risk of HIV infection that you test as soon as possible.  The early detection and treatment of HIV greatly increases survival rates.  Many individuals carry on normal sexual behavior despite knowing that they have had what would be described as an HIV infection risk.  Given that the overwhelming majority of individuals once diagnosed with HIV take greater measures to ensure that they do not infect others leads us to the following conclusion.  Many individuals infected by HIV have been infected by a partner who had contracted HIV can have not tested and therefore had not been diagnosed.  It would be unlikely to that individual did not realize that they had been at risk of HIV infection.  So a primary cause of the individual going on to infect others is their choice not to have tested for HIV.  Given that there are several testing options available to the Australian public here at Head Start Testing we believe that by offering the public a supplementary HIV testing method that hopefully the instances of the example given can be reduced.  A simple HIV test carried out using a HIV self test kit can give an individual early results leading to early treatment and diminished and risk of infection to others.  As the message is that if you are in any doubt about your HIV status that you should take an HIV test at your earliest convenience.

HIV Home Test - False Positive V2

Is testing for HIV at home reliable?

With the fairly recent availability of HIV home test kits such as those available in Australia through Head Start Testing has come new concerns.

Typically these kits are purchased online as users search for popular terms such as “Hiv Test Australia” and “Hiv home test” among others. They then proceed to buy test kits online.

But, Are they reliable, what if they give me the wrong result?

These are valid concerns and highlight an important quality issue surrounding the HIV home test kits. If you are worried about HIV symptoms or your sexual partner’s previous history the last thing you need to worry about is the quality of your test.

We can confirm the following in regards to the HIV home test kits available in Australia through Head Start Testing.

-They are manufactured under GMP and ISO quality controls. This ensures strict quality control of the test kits and their sourced components.

-The HIV home test kits are >99% accurate and detect both type 1 and 2 sub virus.

-The underlying technology is the same technology as used in modern HIV testing facilities who use rapid-test kits

-The test kits supplied by Head Start Testing include a failed test result. This ensures that if the test has failed for technical reason, or a user error or contamination that a 3^rd result is shown. A negative or a positive are only shown if the test kit has been supplied correctly with the sample and has detected a true negative or a true positive.

The above ensures the overall reliability of the HIV test kits as supplied online through Head Start testing. This allows thoseworried about their HIV test results, to carry out their HIV test with privacy and confidence.