Hospital Checkups and HIV Testing ·
- When you go for a checkup at your GUM (Genito-Urinary Medicine) clinic, you will be offered an HIV test. This section is about what happens if you test positive.
- HIV, as you probably know, is a virus that affects the immune system over a period of time, and if left untreated can lead to AIDS.
- Over the last few years there have been major advances in the treatment of HIV, and big improvements in the way people live with it. This has come about because of drugs called antiretrovirals (ARVs) that attack HIV at different stages in its life cycle.
- If you have HIV, further tests can accurately assess the condition of your immune system. Over a period of time that can be anything from three to 20 years after initial infection, but averages 7-10, your immune system deteriorates and you can become susceptible to the group of diseases called AIDS.
- You start on ARV therapy, which involves taking a combination of drugs, before this happens. ARV drugs reduce the amount of HIV being produced in the body, and allow the immune system to recover.
- You will see your doctor for tests every three months or so if you have been diagnosed HIV positive.
- This section explains what the HIV test result means, and what the tests results are used for.
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