Could a cure for HIV be on the horizon? Picture: Thinkstock Source: Supplied
This file picture taken under a microscope shows the HIV 1 virus burgeoning on a lymphocyte. Photo: AFP/Institut Pasteur Source: AFP
A FREE rapid HIV test will be rolled out in key Queensland sexual health clinics from next month.
The $20 blood test will give people an answer to whether they are HIV positive in about 20 minutes compared to up to a week with laboratory testing.
Queensland's Ministerial Advisory Committee on HIV/AIDS approved the introduction of the test.
Committee chairman Darren Russell said the rapid HIV test was as accurate as laboratory testing.
He said Queensland was the first state to make the rapid test widely available.
Dr Russell said it would be rolled out in sexual health clinics in Brisbane, Cairns, Gold Coast, Townsville and Nambour initially before expanding to general practices.
He said the committee hoped the introduction of rapid HIV testing would reduce the average time of diagnosis for HIV from more than four years after transmission.
"It's taking on average too long for people to be diagnosed after they're infected," he said.
"If people know they've got HIV they can take steps to prevent transmitting it."
Dr Russell said it was also important for people with HIV to start taking anti-retroviral drugs as soon as possible for the sake of their health.
"The newer treatments we have are very effective and have few side effects," he said.
Dr Russell said people in the UK were able to have rapid HIV tests sent to their homes but this had not been approved by Australia's medicines regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
"We hope in the future, that will be possible here," he said. "It's all about getting experience in it for doctors and nurses and the gay community and others at risk to become comfortable with the whole idea of rapid testing."
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