The Home Access HIV-Test System
HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is the virus that causes AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome).
Home Access HIV-1 test system provides anonymous telephone access to counseling, education, and laboratory blood
testing from the privacy of your home.
Advantages of Home Access System:
- Accurate – Greater than 99.9% accurate test results – The Home Access HIV-1 Test System was evaluated in U.S.
multi-center clinical studies and is as accurate as tests used by doctors and hospitals - Safe – clinically proven (98% of users collect a blood spot as well as medical professionals)
- Confidential and anonymous – Your test results are identified only by a code number
- Convenient – May be used at home
- Results – available 24 hours a day and are back in about a week. Medically supervised and referrals are available
24 hours a day as well. - Postage – and lab service included
- All done in four easy steps.
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Access HIV-1 Test System
Frequently Asked Questions About AIDS and HIV
Difference between AIDS and HIV: HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. Nearly everyone who becomes
infected with HIV develops AIDS over a period of years. AIDS is a serious condition in which the immune system is
severely weakened, turning normally mild or rare diseases into potentially fatal conditions.
The Importance of Testing for HIV: Anyone can become infected with HIV. Most HIV-Infected people
look and feel healthy and have no signs of being sick. It is possible for them to infect others without even knowing
it. It is a matter of what you do, not who you are. If you engage in risky behaviors, you have a chance of being
infected.
How HIV is Spread: HIV is spread by sexual content with an infected person, by needle-sharing
among injecting drug users, or, very rarely through transfusions of infected blood products, organ transplantation,
or artificial insemination. Babies to HIV-Infected women may become infected before or during birth, or through breast-feeding
after birth. However, HIV is most commonly spread through risky behaviors.
Risky Behaviors: The two most risky behaviors are unprotected sex or sharing a needle or syringe.
HIV can enter the body through any type of sexual intercourse, including vaginal, anal and oral sex. Unprotected
sex is sexual intercourse without proper use of a latex condom. HIV may be found in semen, vaginal fluids, blood
and breast milk of infected individuals. Any contact with these body fluids puts you at risk.
Injecting drugs with a needle or syringe used by another person is risky because it can contain their blood. If
that person is HIV-Infected, you would be injecting HIV directly into your body. You do not get HIV from touching
or hugging infected people or from sharing toilets or clothes with infected people. Because of widespread screening,
transplantation is extremely low.
The HIV-1 Antibody Test: The human body makes antibodies to fight all kinds of infections. Your
body creates HIV-1 antibodies if you become infected with the HIV-1 virus. Our program tests your blood specimen
for antibodies to HIV-1.
Some people take longer than others to make antibodies to HIV-1. In most infected people, these antibodies will
show up in the blood within three months. In some people, it can take up to six months or longer. This is important
to know because the HIV-1 antibody tests cannot detect some recent infections. For example, if you became infected
January, you might not test positive until June. It is during this period of time when people can test negative for
HIV-1 antibodies but still infect others.
Test Methods: Our program first screens your blood specimen using a system called the Enzyme-Linked
Immunoassay (ELISA). If this screen is positive (repeatedly reactive), a more specific confirmatory test, Immunofluoresence
Assay (IFA) will be used. These are the same tests used by doctors in hospitals.
Test Accuracy: In clinical trials conducted at nine U.S. medical centers, test results from
participants using the Home Access HIV-1 test system were compared to professionally collected venous blood specimens
from the same participants. There proved to be a complete correlation between the two tests, yielding an overall
test accuracy of greater than 99.9% for the Home Access HIV-1 test program. This means that the Home Access HIV-1
test program is as accurate as tests used by doctors in hospitals.
Understanding Test Results: There are four possible test results: negative, positive, indeterminate,
or not tested
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Access HIV-1 Test System 
A negative test result means that antibodies to HIV-1 were not found in the blood specimen you sent to the laboratory.
A negative test result generally means you are not infected. However, some people take up to six months before antibodies
to HIV-1 can be detected in their blood. During this time, it is possible for these people to test negative and still
be infected.
A positive test result means that antibodies to HIV-1 were found in the blood specimen you sent to the laboratory.
If you test positive, you should consider yourself infected with HIV-1 and seek medical care. You are capable of
passing the infection to others. Not all persons testing positive are actually infected with HIV-1. A very small
percentage of people with other medical conditions may have false test results. A positive test result does not necessarily
mean that you have AIDS or will ever develop AIDS. If you do test positive, there are many medicines available to
slow down HIV-1, helping infected people live longer and healthier lives.
An indeterminate test result means the presence of HIV-1 antibodies could not be confirmed in the blood specimen
you sent to the laboratory. You could be in the process of seroconversion, which is changing from a negative test
result to a positive test result. Other medical conditions can make the test indeterminate. In either case, you will
need to be retested. If you receive an indeterminate test result, it is recommended that you wait one to three months
before being retested, and practice HIV prevention with your sexual and needle-sharing partners during this time.
A not tested result means the laboratory was not capable of completing the testing program on the specimen you sent
to the laboratory. The laboratory cannot test your blood specimen if the blood specimen collection card becomes wet,
soiled, or contaminated. The circle on the filter paper must be completely filled with blood as directed. Be sure
to ship you blood specimen as soon as possible after collection.
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus
(HIV). The initial response to HIV invasion is a modest decline in the number of circulating helper T cells. Infected
people experience a brief flu-like illness, with chills and fever, but the immune system fights back by making
antibodies against HIV and the number of helper T cells recovers nearly to normal. Although infected people test
positive for HIV antibodies, they typically have few clinical signs or symptoms and do not yet have AIDS.
Over the next two to ten years, the virus slowly destroys the helper T cell population. As immune responses weaken,
people develop certain indicator diseases (diseases that are rare in the general population but are common in AIDS
patients). At this point, the diagnosis of AIDS is made. Early symptoms include headache, night sweats, weigh loss,
fatigue, swollen lymph glands, fever, heavily coated white tongue (oral thrush-candidiasis), diarrhea, and lung infections.
Transmission of HIV: The only documented transmissions are by way of breast milk from a nursing
mother, blood, semen, and vaginal secretions. The virus is found in macrophages in these fluids. HIV is transmitted
by sexual contact from males to females, from females to males, and between males. HIV is also effectively transmitted
through exchanges of blood, for example, by contaminated hypodermic needles or contact with open wounds. Infected
mothers may transmit the virus to their infants.
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Access HIV-1 Test System
Helpful Information if Herpes Simplex is of Concern
