Health officials say HIV testing important to all ages
Flathead Family Planning offers free walk-in HIV testing June 29 along with educational materials and experts to answer questions about risk and transmission of the virus.
Health educator Jennifer MacFarlane encourages people of all ages to get tested. Statistics for Montana show more than just young people are at risk for carrying the virus without knowing it.
"We're seeing older people coming in for testing with full-blown AIDS," she said.
In Montana, people 50 and older made up 33 percent of newly diagnosed HIV cases so far in 2009. The greatest numbers of positive cases were in the 25- to 44-year-old age range.
Actual numbers of patients remain low, with nine people diagnosed statewide in the first quarter of 2009 for a total of 508 living here with HIV/AIDS.
In 2008, a quarter of the 22 Montanans found to be HIV-positive were in the Flathead Valley.
Just more than 40 percent of those testing positive in Montana already had progressed to AIDS. Since these people most likely carried the virus a long time, they may have unwittingly infected others.
"Generally, people don't show symptoms for years," MacFarlane said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, many people remain symptom free for 10 years or more. The agency estimates that about 250,000 Americans don't know that they have acquired the virus.
Warning signs of advanced disease are many and varied but don't form a reliable way of diagnosing infection. Testing remains the only way to know for sure.
By learning early of their HIV-positive status, patients may access life-extending treatments and learn that they need to protect others from infection.
Although deaths have slowed over time, nine Montanans died of HIV/AIDS in 2008. Since testing and data collection began in 1985, the state has lost 908 people to the disease.
MacFarlane said the free testing day on June 29 gives people an easy way to determine their status quickly and anonymously between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The process begins with going to Flathead Family Planning on the third floor of the Flathead City-County Health Department located at 1035 First Ave. W. in Kalispell.
MacFarlane said people should go to the window and ask for a card that covers testing for many diseases. It's completely anonymous.
"We don't want their name," MacFarlane said. "They just make up some sort of identifier."
The rapid test consists of a finger stab or an oral swab that gets immediately processed with a solution. The result emerges in about 20 minutes in a form MacFarlane compared to a pregnancy test with a control line and test line.
She said the processing reacts to antibodies to HIV rather than the virus itself. If a person's result is positive or reactive, the department draws blood to send to a lab for a test for the virus, which takes about two weeks.
According to MacFarlane, the rapid test provides no false negatives and a tiny percentage of false positives.
"It's 99.6 percent accurate," she said.
In the case of a positive result, the department has trained counselors standing by to step in and provide support. She said the need for support for a positive result is the reason a home test isn't provided.
The follow-up includes tracking down all of the HIV positive person's sex partners to come in for testing.
"It's anonymous," she said. "We don't tell who gave their name."
MacFarlane said the department follows the same protocol for all testing for sexually transmitted diseases.
No appointment is needed for the free testing held in observance of National HIV Testing Day. However, people may schedule appointments if they prefer by calling 751-8150.
Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com