Miami Herald - Friday, June 27, 2003
Andrea Robinson, arobinson@herald.com

Anyone whose results are positive will need more extensive testing, officials said. But they are hopeful that the rapid tests will have a major impact in a state where about half of the people who test positive fail to return for their results, forcing health department staff to track most of them down.

Miami -- which ranks second in the nation among major U.S. cities for new HIV infections -- is one of five Florida cities that will take part in the pilot program. The others are Key West, Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa. The tests should be available in Miami and Key West in August, and a month or so later in the other cities.

Tom Liberti, director of the state Bureau of HIV/AIDS, will announce the $50,000 six-month pilot study of the rapid-test kits today at a Miami Beach news conference marking National HIV Testing Day.

Selected centers in each city will get the $13 kits from the state at no cost under a grant from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Miami, they will be available at the South Beach AIDS Project, which primarily tests gay and bisexual men, and the Borinquen Health Clinic in Wynwood. They also may be available at private centers that choose to pay for them.

The announcement comes two months after the Atlanta-based CDC launched a new campaign that encourages doctors to make HIV testing a part of routine medical care.

Nationally, about one-third of people with positive tests don't come back for the results, the CDC says. In Florida, the number is about one-half.

And there may be more cause for concern in South Florida. This week, a Florida International University researcher released a 1996 study that showed South Beach had one of the highest rates for new HIV infections among young gay men, approaching figures seen in San Francisco almost two decades ago.

The study found that 6.3 percent of men ages 18-29 who lived in ZIP code 33139 were newly infected, compared with a national average of less than 1 percent.

A report based on the study appears in this month's Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes.

Medical professionals and HIV/AIDS prevention advocates hope an early warning that a person might be positive will encourage them to get treated immediately.

Marlene LaLota, spokeswoman for the state AIDS office, said the pilot program targets high-risk populations that might shy away from testing in a regular hospital setting.

Rapid testing has been available outside the United States for several years and was approved for use in this country in November by the federal Food and Drug Administration.

Health officials caution that the test is only a screening, and any positive result is subject to more extensive tests before a diagnosis can be given. But scientists say the test, known as OraQuick, is 99.6 percent accurate in clinical trials.

Florida advocates applauded the state's decision to use the test.

Kevin Garrity, executive director of South Beach AIDS Project, predicted that a positive screening result increases the likelihood a test taker will come back.

"They're hoping for the less than 1 percent chance of a false positive. It's almost like reverse denial."

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