What is HIV?
HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency. HIV is a virus that attacks cells that help the body fight infection, making a person more vulnerable to other infections and diseases. It is spread by contact with certain bodily fluids or a person with HIV through unprotected sex, through sharing injection drug equipment, or from a mother to a baby during pregnancy or breastfeeding. Currently there is no cure for HIV, and without treatment, HIV can gradually destroy the immune system and progress to AIDS. However, people with HIV who take HIV medicine as prescribed can live long and healthy lives and will not transmit HIV to their HIV-negative partners through sex.
Who Should Get Tested?
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 should get tested as part of routine health care. People should get tested more often when they have had more than one sexual partner or are having sex with someone whose sexual history they don’t know. Some sexually active gay and bisexual men may benefit from more frequent testing (e.g. every 3 to 6 months).
If your last HIV test result was negative, the test was more than one year ago, and you can answer yes to any of the following questions, then you should get an HIV test as soon as possible:
- Are you a man who has had sex with another man?
- Have you had sex – anal or vaginal – with a partner who has HIV?
- Have you had more than one sex partner since your last HIV test?
- Have you injected drugs and shared needles, syringes, or other injection drug equipment (for example, cookers) with others?
- Have you exchanged sex for drugs or money?
- Have you been diagnosed with, or treated for, another sexually transmitted infection?
- Have you been diagnosed with or treated for hepatitis or tuberculosis (TB)?
- Have you had sex with someone who could answer “yes” to any of the above questions or someone whose sexual history you don’t know?
Additional Resources
Order Your Home Test Kit: https://together.takemehome.org/
Order Free Condoms: https://endinghivoklahoma.org/free-condoms-from-health-department/
Let’s Stop HIV Together Campaign: https://www.cdc.gov/stophivtogether/index.html
Services