Local HIV test day attracts best response yet

Flathead Family Planning's walk-in HIV testing day on June 29 showed a significant increase in participation over previous years.

Jennifer MacFarlane, health educator, said 14 people got tested on June 29 and six more came in on subsequent days, citing an article in the Daily Inter Lake as their source of information for the event.

Previous walk-in test days have drawn as few as two people. "We definitely had some people who were more at risk and needed to get tested," she said.

The majority of new cases in Montana have been man-to-man transmission. But in 2008, the proportion of new cases rose among women and people reporting high-risk heterosexual sex.

About 25 percent of those who took part in the walk-in test day were in the over-50 age group, a demographic that made up 33 percent of newly diagnosed HIV cases so far in 2009. In 2008, about a quarter of Montanans found positive for the virus were tested in the Flathead Valley.

Last year, 40 percent of those tested had progressed to AIDS, suggesting that those people had acquired the virus years earlier. MacFarlane said experts project that about 25 percent of people with HIV don't know since symptoms may not appear for 10 years or more.

"I wish there wasn't such a stigma connected with testing," MacFarlane said. "Generally, people who get tested and find out they're positive change their behavior."

She said people still have an opportunity to take free HIV tests without disclosing their names.

The clinic provides completely anonymous testing from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

"We ask that they make an appointment," MacFarlane said. "If they walk in, we'll try and work them in."

The rapid test consists of a finger stab or an oral swab that gets immediately processed. The result emerges in about 20 minutes in a form similar to a home pregnancy test.

Results are 99.6 percent accurate, with no false negatives and a tiny percentage of false positives. The processing detects antibodies to HIV rather than the virus itself.

If a person tests positive, the clinic draws blood to send to a lab to test for the virus, which takes about two weeks. Follow-up includes tracking down for testing all the person's sex partners without revealing his or her identity to them.

To set up an appointment for testing, call 751-8150. Flathead Family Planning is located on the third floor of the Flathead City-County Health Department at 1035 First Ave. W., Kalispell.

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.