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Community‐based rapid HIV testing in homeless and marginally housed adults in San Francisco
Author(s) -
Buchér JB,
Thomas KM,
Guzman D,
Riley E,
Dela Cruz N,
Bangsberg DR
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
hiv medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.53
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 1468-1293
pISSN - 1464-2662
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-1293.2007.00423.x
Subject(s) - medicine , seroprevalence , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , hiv diagnosis , family medicine , gerontology , demography , hiv screening , hiv test , environmental health , immunology , men who have sex with men , viral load , antiretroviral therapy , antibody , population , health services , serology , health facility , sociology , syphilis
Background Standard two‐step HIV testing is limited by poor return‐for‐results rates and misses high‐risk individuals who do not access conventional testing facilities. Methods We describe a community‐based rapid HIV testing programme in which homeless and marginally housed adults recruited from shelters, free meal programmes and single room occupancy hotels in San Francisco received OraQuick Rapid HIV‐1 Antibody testing (OraSure Technologies, Bethlehem, PA, USA). Results Over 8 months, 1614 adults were invited to participate and 1213 (75.2%) underwent testing. HIV seroprevalence was 15.4% (187 of 1213 individuals) overall and 3.5% (37 of 1063) amongst high‐risk individuals reporting no previous testing, a prior negative test, or previous testing without result disclosure. All 1213 participants received their results. Of 30 newly diagnosed persons who received confirmatory results, 26 (86.7%) reported at least one contact with a primary healthcare provider in the 6 months following diagnosis. Conclusions We conclude that community‐based rapid testing is feasible, acceptable and effective based on the numbers of high‐risk persons tested over a short period, the participation rate, the prevalence of new infection, the rate of result disclosure, and the proportion linked to care.