What everyone should know about taking an HIV test
“While it’s disheartening that there’s still so much stigma surrounding HIV, the good news is more people than ever are living well with a positive diagnosis. And, the majority of whom can actually have sex without passing the virus on because treatment has made their viral load ‘undetectable’… “People are still afraid to test because they worry about the outcome,” says Alex Sparrowhawk, programme officer at HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust.
“It’s important to remember the vast majority of tests [in the UK] will come back negative, because we’re seeing rates of HIV rapidly decline in the UK at the moment. That’s mainly down to HIV treatment. For people that know their status and go to regular hospital appointments, 97 per cent on treatment are ‘undetectable’.””
