HIV Testing Among Populations At-Risk for HIV--Nine States, November 1995-December 1996

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

HIV Testing Among Populations At-Risk for HIV--Nine States, November 1995-December 1996

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (12/25/98) Vol. 47, No. 50,

This study analyzed self-reported reasons why people at high risk for HIV infection either did not get tested or delayed getting tested for HIV. Although most (76 percent) of the high-risk individuals surveyed in the nine-state study had been tested for HIV, there were several common factors for not getting tested or delaying testing. The main factors for delaying or not getting tested were fear of a positive test result (reported by 25 percent of those who had not been tested and 23 percent of those who had delayed testing), thinking that they were HIV negative (reported by 13 percent and 11 percent, respectively), thinking they were unlikely to have been exposed to HIV (18 percent and 10 percent, respectively), not wanting to think about the possibility of being HIV-positive (8 percent and 9 percent, respectively), and thinking there was little they could do about it if they were HIV positive (6 percent and 4 percent, respectively). The data also indicated that the states' HIV reporting policies did not serve as a major deterrent to HIV testing. Only a small proportion of the respondents knew their state's HIV reporting policy (19 percent from states that conducted HIV reporting by name, 12 percent from states that conducted HIV reporting by a unique identifier system, and 11 percent from states that do not conduct HIV reporting). Nineteen percent of the respondents who had never been tested for HIV listed concern about name-based HIV reporting as one of many reasons they did not get tested, but only 2 percent listed this as the main reason for not being tested. However, this concern was highest among untested men who have sex with men, with 4 percent listing it as the main factor for not being tested. To help ensure that HIV reporting policies do not deter even a small number of people from seeking testing, CDC recommends that all State Health Departments provide publicly funded anonymous HIV counseling and testing options.

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