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THE VANCOUVER PROVINCE - HIV TEST DONE IN 60 SECONDS
June 29, 2007
John Bermingham, The Province
Published: Friday, June 29, 2007
A Vancouver company is taking its 60-second HIV test to the streets.
Biolytical Laboratories will set up a 12.8-metre trailer at the Vancouver Art Gallery and Kits Beach on Aug. 10 and 11 to offer free HIV testing.
Matthew Clayton, the company's co-founder, told The Province yesterday the test results will be confidential and 99.9-per-cent accurate.
The idea is to test 500 people each in public locations in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal with Biolytical's 60-second INSTI kits, which are approved by the federal government.
"It will be the first mobile testing of its kind ever done in Canada," said Clayton.
The van will be staffed by nurses, doctors and counsellors. They will test a single drop of blood for HIV. The test normally costs $10.
People would be given counselling before and after the test for the potentially deadly disease.
And if a person tests positive, a follow-up test would be done in a laboratory.
Dr. Perry Kendall, B.C.'s provincial health officer, said he's concerned the mobile HIV test is a "marketing gimmick."
"I would question you would get the hard-to-reach populations at the Vancouver Art Gallery and Kits Beach," he said.
Dr. Patricia Daly, Vancouver's medical health officer, said she supports the tests as long as she gets the HIV-positive results.
"If they get positive results, I want to know that they're calling my office and reporting to me," she said.
The test won't detect those newly infected, she added, because it takes three months for the infection to show up.
Last Friday, the Ontario government announced it would offer the rapid tests at 50 anonymous-testing clinics around the province, with results known only to the person tested.
