The state Health Department is looking at a new 20-minute HIV test for possible use in its clinic and outreach sites. New rapid on-the-spot HIV
test gets look from stateOfficials hope that the new test will
System results in more reported cases of AIDS
increase people's awareness
By Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.comThe first rapid HIV test -- providing immediate results similar to reading pregnancy tests -- was approved by the Food and Drug Administration yesterday. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.
"Certainly, we're interested in investigating possible use of the technology," said Mary Santa Maria, HIV tester-counselor-trainer in the STD/AIDS Prevention Branch.
She said the new test has advantages but also disadvantages.
The new test is called OraQuick. It is administered in the same way as the current OraSure test, which takes two weeks to get the results.
This gives people time to think about what they have done to put themselves at risk and what they can do to decrease the risk, Santa Maria said.
"There is a chance for a counselor to have interaction with a person when they come for the result, a chance to support the person."
With OraQuick providing on-the-spot results, possibly the only chance the counselor has to interact with the person and provide support is when the test is taken, she said.
"On the other hand, it may provide an opportunity for a person to be tested who doesn't want to wait two weeks, who wants to know right then and there."
A 10-minute rapid test has been available since the mid-1990s, but many clinics do not use it because of problems using it accurately.
OraQuick is "the first one really approved as a viable test to use in lots of different settings," Santa Maria said.
A health worker pricks a person's finger, puts a spot of blood into a vial containing a developing solution and dips a sticklike testing device into it.
If a single reddish line appears on the dipstick, the person is negative for HIV. Two reddish lines means the person may be infected and needs another test to confirm the results.
Federal AIDS specialists said the new test is so easy to use, it should greatly reduce the number of people who do not know they have tested positive for HIV because they never returned for the test results.
They believe it will help more people learn they are infected and seek treatment, stopping spread of the disease.
The FDA said the test detects antibodies to HIV, and studies show the results are 99.6 percent accurate.
Dr. David McEwan, chief of family medicine at the Honolulu Medical Group and a Life Foundation founder, said, "If indeed it is an accurate test, that's good."
McEwan said from the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, "I always said, 'Knowledge is power, action equals life.' This is a step people can take to find out and get the knowledge."
Since 1983, AIDS cases have been reported to the state Health Department.
Reporting of HIV infections by laboratories, physicians and other health care providers began Oct. 1, 2001.
To avoid discouraging people from being tested for HIV infection, Hawaii does not use names in reporting as most other states do.
Each person tested gets an Unnamed Test Code with letters from his or her first and last names and numbers from their birth date.
"We're waiting to see what HIV reporting will tell us about the epidemic," Santa Maria said.
If the test is positive, it is reported with the code, and "that's how we can track what the epidemic is doing without having to have people's names," she said. "We're having some good success with it."
She said the surveillance staff is working with hospitals, physicians and other providers so they know how to use the code and report forms. "We're still working the glitches out of it. We're getting cooperation. Eventually, we will have it going smoothly."
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In the first year of a coded system of HIV (non-AIDS) reporting in Hawaii, 426 cases were reported to the state Health Department's HIV/AIDS Surveillance Program. Coded system results in
more reported cases of
AIDS in Hawaii
By Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.comHIV data for the period from September, last year, to Sept. 30, this year, are presented in the latest HIV/AIDS surveillance quarterly report. However, the figures are not complete because of a reporting delay, the program said.
The system of identifying HIV cases by an Unnamed Test Code began in August of last year.
The number of AIDS cases reported increased to 129 last year, compared with 109 in 2000 and 103 in 1999.
But the report points out, "The number of AIDS cases reported in 2001 does not reflect a new AIDS epidemic; instead it reflects unreported cases from the previous years."
The number of newly diagnosed AIDS cases dropped in 2001 from 1999, but the number of reported cases increased, partly due to the new HIV reporting system, the report said.
Some health care providers reviewed their HIV-positive records and reported some unreported AIDS cases along with HIV cases, the surveillance report said.
Working with health care personnel on use of the coded HIV reporting form, the surveillance staff collected data on 85 AIDS cases diagnosed between 1987 and 2001 and not previously reported.
From 1983 to Sept. 30, this year, 2,676 AIDS cases were reported in the state.
