Get Healthy Carson City: National HIV Testing Day

Carson City Health and Human Services is recognizing the National Human Immunodeficiency Virus Testing Day on June 27 as a day to encourage the public to seek testing for HIV. National HIV Testing Day promotes the importance of knowing your status.

It is important to know your status to make sure you are doing everything you can to live a long, healthy life. Making the appointment is always the hardest step, but unlike most tests, HIV testing is easy, fast and free at CCHHS.

HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. About 1.1 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV. Of those people, one in seven do not know they are infected. There is a medication that a person who is HIV positive can take daily to help them stay at what is called “undetectable,” meaning their viral load is at a sustained level that allows those living with HIV to live a long, healthy life as long as the medication is continuously taken.

The purpose of HIV Testing Day is to help people who might be at risk for HIV learn if they have the virus and figure out strategies to protect themselves and others from infection. HIV can affect anyone regardless of sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, gender, or age.

However, certain behaviors can increase someone’s risk of HIV. In the U.S., having sex with someone who is already HIV-positive without using a condom is the most common way to spread HIV. The five reproductive fluids that can transmit HIV are blood, semen, vaginal fluids, anal fluids, and breast milk from a mother who is HIV positive.

Meaning if you are exposed to any of these bodily fluids, you are at risk for HIV. Since it is impossible to tell by looking at someone if they are infected, having sex without a condom with anyone whose HIV status is not known should be considered a risk for HIV.

Having unprotected sex with more partners increases your risk. Sharing needles and syringes to inject drugs is also a way that many people become infected with HIV.

What can you do?

• Get the facts: Learn about HIV, and share this lifesaving information with your family, friends, and community. Tell them about the importance of making HIV testing a part of their regular health routine.

• Get tested: Knowing your HIV status gives you powerful information to help keep you and your partner healthy. The CDC recommends that everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 get tested for HIV at least once as part of routine healthcare.

Carson City Health and Human Services: HIV testing information

Carson City Health and Human Services provides HIV testing on the following days:

• Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (by appointment only)

• Thursdays with walk-in hours from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

We also provide extensive information and education about HIV.

For information about services and programs available to you through Carson City Health and Human Services, visit gethealthycarsoncity.org, or call 775-887-2190. You can visit the CCHHS office at 900 E. Long St., in Carson City or follow CCHHS on Facebook at facebook.com/cchhs, or Instagram at GetHealthyCarsonCity.