HIV rapid testing

[mongatu]

I got more interested in this topic after hearing about the sad news that one of the forum members has recently tested positive for HIV. I hope he is doing well.

 

Anyway, thanks to the discussion in that thread, I learned a lot. For example, it was news to me that HIV subtype E, which is prevalent in Thailand, is apparently more easily spread by heterosexual sex than the other subtypes.

 

As many may know, there are very inexpensive, simple to use and read, rapid test kits available in Thailand. According to my research around the web, the Bioline kit which I picked up for 300B is very accurate in detecting antibodies produced by HIV 1 and 2. There were 0% false negatives in some studies although there were a very few false positives.

 

But, and this may be a dumb question, do these tests have the ability to detect antibodies caused by infection with ALL the various subtypes, including especially the subtype E we are likely to encounter in Thailand?

 

I would appreciate it if any of the more expert posters who sometimes frequent this Health thread would respond.

 

 

[Neo]

One problem with these tests is they don't detect anything until after several months of infection. To make matters worse, studies have shown that's when it is most contageous. So it doesn't really prove anything. I also have a hard time imagining girls being receptive to being forced by a punter into such a test. Doesn't seem real practical.

 

[MooNoi]

Depends if you are using to test yourself or to test a girl before doing the deed.

 

Now, what happens if you take your bar-fine back to the hotel, do the test, and she comes up positive?

 

What could you possibly say?

 

"Sorry honey - you've got HIV. Think you better go now."

 

As Neo said, not practical.

 

I feel with something as important (and potentially life-changing) as an HIV test, its important to have support and counseling available if worst should come to the worst and the test comes back with bad news.

 

This applies both to the punter, and the girl.

 

If you did this with a girl in a punter's room and it came back for her as positive, I can see a lot of the girls leaving his room and immediately jumping straight under a truck or something equally final. A lot of them wouldn't be aware that to be HIV positive is *NOT* a death sentence anymore and would simply go off and top themselves.

 

Melodramatic, maybe... but the potential for it is there.

 

While these tests are convenient, I think that proper medical and emotional support are needed when testing for such a serious malady.

 

Just my 2 cents worth.

[wonderlust]

Presumably he's thinking of testing himself. I don't know anyone who would be foolish enough to test a girl themselves - so many issues make it totally impractical. For testing yourself I see the value in these home tests. Personally I think I'd rather be alone when hearing bad news like that. That's just the sort of person I am. A good way of checking how good these tests are is to see whether they have approval from the FDA is the US or an equivalent western authority. If it has FDA approval I'm sure they would have taken into account the different subtypes when granting approval.

[MooNoi]

I don't know anyone who would be foolish enough to test a girl themselves - so many issues make it totally impractical.

 

I would agree... I'm just thinking of those ads I've seen in many gogo toilets, (Baccara in Soi Cowboy, Downstairs toilet is an example), where in both English and Japanese there's advertisements for a DIY test kit for 1000 baht or whatever it is.

 

One of the lines in the ad goes along the lines of: "Tested yourself lately? Tested your partner?"

 

Being the quirky culture it is, I can see a lot of the Japanese being paranoid about HIV and wanting to test their BF when they get them back to the hotel.

 

Maybe someone with some experience of Japanese culture can elaborate on that.

 

Agreed though. Many issues would make it very hard to test your girl of the night. Some of their reactions would be interesting.

[cardinalblue]

I will put myself in that crowd of being paranoid about getting HIV from paid sex...

 

So yes to reduce my paranoia, I am probably operating at less than 5 to 10% of doing the bar thing than when i first came 7 years ago...

 

It is not worth the worry whether this IS the exposure that makes you infected...

 

And lets not forget, our board member is far from the only guy who contacted HIV from a BG. I admire his bravery for telling us his story.

 

But what we really don't know how many other board memebrs and other participants in the scene are turning up HIV infected? Would we really want to know that answer? Is it less than 1% or 4% or 6%? I see it more as 0% or 100% from an individual perspective...

 

I would bet OH's boxer shorts our most recent board member's story isn't the first and won't be the last; it is just we don't know what really is happening with the HIV conversion rate in the Bg or pick-up scenes....

 

CB

 

 

[mongatu]

I agree that testing "the girl of the night" is impractical and problematic for the reasons stated. And that is not what I had in mind.

 

As one poster theorized, I asked the question because I am mainly using the tests for myself (and if I ever get a gf and want to start going bareback after the 3 month "window", I would then want to test her (or have her tested). But that I think is quite different from testing the girl of the night.

 

But getting back to the OP, I was asking for and am using the tests mainly for myself and was wondering if a negative test result includes negative for subtype E?

 

(Btw, these tests are really easy to use and I bought mine for 300B from the Soi Boukhao Clinic (just a funky little doctor's office). That clinic will also administer the test for you for an extra 50B. But I'm ok with administering it myself and that is the kind of thing I prefer to do alone.)

[wonderlust]

The answer is surely yes or the test would be worthless and wouldn't be authorised for sale. HIV tests test for antibodies not for the virus itself so the subtype would make no difference. But surely you'd be better following my advice and checking whether the brand of HIV test you're using has FDA or similar authorisation than trying to find the answer on an internet forum.

[mongatu]

Of course I did check around the net before starting this thread but did not find the answer to my specific question. I did find out that the test doe s not have US FDA approval, but to me that doesn't mean a whole lot as I have a rather low opinion of most US regulatory agencies, including the FDA. They are very slow, cumbersome, and worst of all are "captured" regulators, meaning that they are beholden and subject to being unduly influenced by those whom they are supposed to be regulating, imo. They make tons of mistakes and there are several great medicines, two of which I have personal experience with, that are not FDA approved, again imo.

 

Anyway, the test is manufactured in Korea and is approved by the KFDA (Korean FDA), fwimbw. It is extensively used in third world countries that lack adequate numbers of facilities with the fancy equipment necessary to do some of the other kinds of more sophisticated HIV testing.

 

As I mentioned in an earlier post above, there are some fairly extensive studies involving many thousands of samples that have found this particular test gives 0% false negative results and a very very low rate of false positive results. I am asking my question on this thread because I know there are a few people who post here who have the expertise to give a reliable answer to my question. But anyway, thank you for your opinion on the subject.

[wonderlust]

The KFDA is a reputable licencing authority. There's no chance in hell they would approve it if it "didn't work" on those infected with a specific subtype.