Drop in London HIV Tests

Fighting HIV

From the beginning, tackling the HIV epidemic wasn’t an easy thing to do. Not only was the diseas unknown and there was no precedent in medicaiton for the virus, but also a heavy cloak of social prejudice was tightly associated with this infection. In a time when homophobia was much stronger than it is today, at least in countries like ours, the fact that the vast majority of HIV infections were diagnosed among gay men quickly made everyone believe it was a "gay disease", and thus, as shameful and vicious as homosexuality itself. However, this association weakened in time. Not only did women and straight men get diagnosed as well, even if the number was significantly lower, but scientists determined that the reason HIV was so prevalent among men who have sex with men wasn’t because it was a sexual orientation specific disease, but because the sexual practices more frequent among men with men - such as anal sex and the quick exchange of sexual partners - were risk factors for HIV contagion.

Nowadays, science has gone a long way, and even if the disease is still a thing and there is no approved cure, medication that decreases contagion and helps treat the symptoms and save lives is now available. Even preventive drugs have been working wonders, especially in high risk population. There is a good chance that deffinitive treatment, perhaps even erradication, of this infection is soon to be a reality.

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HIV diagnosis in London drops by 40%

Recent studies show that four clinics in London reported a drop of 40% in HIV diagnosis in 2016. This extremeley significative Drop in London HIV rates called the attention of researchers and clinics, who wanted to find out the reason of this sudden decrease.

Doctors explain that this improvement in the HIV scenario isn’t likely to be due to only one factor. They emphasized the impact of preventive campaigns and testing offered by the NHS and other instututions and companies. Infected people who remain unaware of the fact that they are possitive are more likely to transmit the virus, since there is a higher chance that they will have unprotected sex. For this reason, diagnosis actually decreases the probabilities of the infection to spread around.

Also, health services have been offering HIV testing, and even online clinics and other Internet services allowed people to get tested by post with a state of the art technique which is very convenient for today’s Londoneers. A testing kit is sent by e-mail to the address of the customer, with instructions on how to collect the blood sample, for which no training is required. The sample is then sent back by post and results come in the form of a text message within a couple days. This has allegedly increased testing, since this method is more convenient, comfortable, quick and private.

However, there is one factor in particular that has been strongly suggested as the main cause of the drop in HIV diagnosis in London, and it’s the massive introduction in the market of a preventive drug that not only helps treat people with HIV, but also highly decreases the likeliness of contagion.

One pill to prevent them all

Researches and doctors mostly agree that Truvada may be the answer to the interrogation about why HIV diagnosis has dropped so drastically. Truvada is a preventive drug that is availabe in the UK for treatment of HIV infections, but it has shown a powerful efect on reducing the viral load in genital fluids, which drops the probability of contagion to almost zero.

Truvada wasn’t available in the NHS until November last year, when the NHS lost a lawsuit and agreed to provide this medication for free. For now, Truvada will only be provided to 10,000 individuals as a trial to learn about the true effects of this drug.

Nontheless, Truvada has been circulating in the UK for several months before the NHS started providing it. Online sites like I Want PrEP Now were selling this medication, which was produced in countries like China, India and Switzerland. There was concern among the medical population about the contents of these pills, and whether or not they were fake or harmful. However, so far, clinical studies show that these pills are authentic and actually serve their purpose in preventing HIV infections.

If the NHS agrees to provide this medication to the population, we might expect to see an even bigger drop in infections. By now, the safest and most cost-effective way to get Truvada is to buy it online.

Drop in London HIV Tests

Fighting HIV

HIV diagnosis in London drops by 40%

One pill to prevent them all

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