Home Access HIV test use reveals three-times positive rate compared to national average.
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
HOME ACCESS HIV TEST RESULTS SHOW .9% SEROPOSITIVE RATE -- three times the estimated national rate -- among 152,044 users of the over-the-counter HIV home blood test service. In its Dec. 2 "HIV Counseling & Testing Report," Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Home Access announces data collected anonymously during pretest counseling from August 1996 through September 1997. The .9% seropositive rate is higher than the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention's recently estimated rate of .3%. The Home Access survey is intended to complement CDC's annual efforts to provide a demographic summary of HIV cases for those tested at publicly-funded sites, the company said. The seropositive rate at publicly funded sites for 1995 was 1.2%, according to CDC's report. Home Access markets the only HIV test service available OTC.