HIV Testing paper essays

HIV Testing paper essays Mandatory HIV Testing: Wasteful or Worthwhile? Human Immunodeficiency Virus, more commonly known as HIV is a disease that leaves a person receptive to life-threatening infections. It attacks the immune system. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is the basic cause of AIDS worldwide, while HIV-2 is found in West Africa. HIV infection occurs when a person comes in contact with an infected persons bodily fluids, including semen, blood, vaginal secretions, and breast milk. The main ways a person could become infected with HIV is sexual relations with an infected person, pricking of a hypodermic needle that an infected person has used, or a mother transferring it to her child through birth or breast-feeding (Human). HIV testing should not be mandatory because of how few people are infected, an infected persons rights, and discrimination. There are very few people infected with HIV in the world. In 2000, only 36,100,000 people were infected worldwide while the number of people worldwide is in the billions. Only 920 thousand people in North America are infected with HIV (Agence France-Presse). The mast majority of people who ask for HIV testing to be done are usually at the lowest risk for HIV. They ask for the tests because of fear and guilt. Many people believe that if they pay for test themselves, it does not increase HealthCare costs. Even if you do pay for the tests yourself, it ultimately does increase HealthCare costs. This is because tests are done unnecessarily, it costs more for the lab to extra money to hire and train staff to do those tests and purchase additional equipment. Insurance companies will not usually pay for these tests when they are unessential. Testing should only be done when there is a clinical need for the tests. Many times people are tested when they have been around a person who is known to be infected or if they are having symptoms that ...