KTRE.com Lufkin and Nacogdoches |HIV Testing

HIV Testing

by Larry Little

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is pushing to make HIV tests routine. The goal is to make HIV testing a routine part of doctor visits.

Wilbert Brown is director of an East Texas Health Center. He knows many people around this area have HIV and AIDS. Some of those infected don't even know it. "People are not aware generally of how HIV is transmitted. They make think you can get it in a casual kind of relationship or that you can look at someone and tell they have the disease but really the only way you can confirm that is to be tested," says Wilbert Brown.  

The debate continues, about who should be tested for HIV. "It just depends on the risk of the individual. Those people who inject drugs, is one of the ways you can contract it and those who are sexually promiscuous", says Brown.

The CDC wants to expand HIV testing. Already doctors are being encouraged to ask patients 13 to 84 years old if they would like an HIV test. Some experts believe a push for testing would help save lives, by helping to track and treat the disease, but others don't think such a drastic step is necessary.

To get tested for HIV call Health Horizons 936-569-8240.