AEGiS-UPI: FDA panel to mull at-home HIV test

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

FDA panel to mull at-home HIV test

United Press International - October 26, 2005

WASHINGTON - An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration will meet Nov. 3 to consider whether a rapid HIV test should be available for sale in drugstores.

The panel will review the OraSure Technologies Oraquick HIV test, which currently is available through physicians' offices.

The test, cleared for market by the FDA about a year ago, is a thermometer-like device that detects the presence of the HIV virus in saliva.

Critics who oppose moving rapid HIV tests over the counter argue that a positive test result might be too traumatic for patients outside of a doctor's office, where immediate counseling is available.

As groundbreaking HIV drug cocktails have made HIV/AIDs more of a chronic but manageable illness, however, the trend has been to allow HIV testing at home.

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