As many as one in five people with HIV do not know they have the virus – and account for 50 percent of new cases.
Despite incredible progress made to bring the sexually-transmitted disease under control, still 1.1 million Americans are living with it – with new infections every year.
These days it is not the death sentence it was in the 1980s: current medications allow HIV positive people the same life expectancy and lifestyle as those who do not have the virus.
Preventing it is also easier than ever. HIV negative people can take drugs that makes them essentially immune to catching the disease, and HIV positive people can take medication that reduces their viral load to such an extent that it is untransmittable.
Wednesday marks the 13th National HIV Testing Day in America
However, rates of people getting tested remain much lower than they should be – and that is hampering attempts to eliminate the disease, experts are warning today to mark the 13th annual National HIV Testing Day – with free tests being offered across the US.
The CDC recommends that everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 be tested at least once.
Those with specific risk factors – such as men who have sex with men or people who have sex with multiple partners – should be tested once a year.
According to CDC data, millions of people fall into that category.
And yet, most adults (55 percent) have never been tested for HIV, and 28 percent of people with a high risk of contracting HIV have never been tested.
It means that hundreds of thousands of Americans (approximately 165,000) are unaware of their positive status, and unwittingly pass on the virus.
For one in three Americans that do test positive, they have already had the virus for a few years.
Some parts of the US are combating this issue.
New York City, for example, saw a 1,000 percent increase between 2014 and 2016 in people taking preventative drugs to protect themselves from HIV thanks to a boost in people getting checked.
However, a CDC report earlier this year showed that the picture is varied across the country. Florida is seeing a surge in cases, as are some affluent communities on the West Coast.
In a bid to hammer home the lingering threat of transmission, and the invaluable importance of knowing your status, groups are holding free testing sessions across the United States today.
In New York, the Department of Health is running free tests in Union Square.
Across the country, Walgreens is offering free tests in all its stores.
‘Early testing can mean access to effective treatment and the opportunity to go on to live a healthy normal lifespan,’ Glen Pietrandoni, senior director of patient care at Walgreens, said.
‘In addition, with proper adherence to medication, successfully treated patients cannot easily transmit the virus to others.
‘As we continue to work towards an end to HIV/AIDS, it is crucial that testing and trusted resources on treatment are made more widely available within communities.’