From the beginning of the epidemic, until the end of August 2017, nearly 22,2 thousand people infected with HIV were detected in Poland. Currently, there are about 15 of them, of which 3-4 are unaware of it. See who should get an HIV test.
At the end of 2014, at the request of the National Center for AIDS, a study was conducted during which respondents were asked who the problem of HIV / AIDS was related to. 53 percent people replied that it concerns everyone. – We asked who, then, should be tested for HIV. Here, too, the majority of respondents replied that everyone. Meanwhile, HIV testing has been performed by only 5 percent. adult population and this illustrates the approach to the problem. On the one hand, we have theoretical knowledge that this is a problem that may affect everyone, but in practice we do not relate the risk of HIV infection to ourselves – says Anna Marzec-Bogusławska, director of the National AIDS Center.
Everyone associates an infected person with a drug addict. Meanwhile, sexual contacts in Poland have been the main route of spreading infections for many years. The path of vertical infection, that is, transmission of the virus from mother to child, should not be forgotten either. – I encourage every woman who is pregnant, and especially planning motherhood, to consider taking an HIV test together with her partner, with the child’s father – says Marzec-Bogusławska.
In Poland, there are many possibilities to make a test to see if we are infected with HIV. It can be performed in laboratories of sanitary and epidemiological stations, at clinics of infectious diseases, commercially. – We especially recommend performing an HIV test at one of the 30 consultation and diagnostic centers located throughout Poland. A full list of these points is available on the website of the National AIDS Center at www.aids.gov.pl. Why do we recommend such a test execution system? Because it can be performed anonymously, free of charge and without a referral – adds Marzec-Bogusławska.
Even if the test is positive, it is not a death sentence. The antiretroviral drugs in use today are working brilliantly. They reduce the level of HIV in infected people to very low levels. As a result, these people do not get AIDS and live as long as others. Antiretroviral therapy also prevents the infection from being passed on to others through sex, and from mother to child.
However, it should be remembered that this treatment is only a means of improving the quality of life and enabling its prolongation. It would be best not to get HIV. Therefore, it is worth being faithful to yourself and not engaging in risky sexual behavior.