Unlike a home pregnancy test, Confide won’t yield instant results. But it will enable consumers to deal anonymously with a clinical laboratory. Anyone opening the package will find a pinprick device, a coded piece of blotter paper and a mailer. The instructions direct the user to place three drops of blood on the paper, tear off a tab with a matching code number, and drop the sample in the mail. Getting the results involves calling a toll-free number and punching in your code. If the result is negative, a recorded message says so. But anyone with a confirmed positive result gets a trained counselor on the line, ready to answer questions and provide information on treatment and social support.
Weighing risks: A handful of critics (primarily clinic operators) have fought for years to keep home tests off the market; they say news of an HIV infection is too potentially devastating to dole out over the phone. But proponents note that patients tested in clinics often receive little or no counseling. And they argue that consumers can weigh the risks and benefits for themselves. Though an FDA advisory panel endorsed home-access testing two years ago, the agency sought additional assurance that the test could provide privacy, accuracy and adequate counseling. “We are confident that [it] can,” FDA Commissioner David Kessler said last week. Two other companies – ChemTrak of Sunnyvale, Calif., and Home Access Health of Rolling Meadows, Ill., are seeking approval for similar devices.
Will people actually use them? The chances are excellent. In a 1992 survey, the National Center for Health Statistics found that just 8 percent of U.S. adults planned to get themselves tested at clinics. Yet 29 percent said they would test themselves at home if they could. On the strength of such findings, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, surmise that a home test could prompt 40 million Americans to check their status, bringing to light 100,000 undiagnosed HIV infections. Activists stress the continuing need for community-based clinics that can reach out to drug addicts and others who are unlikely to buy or use a home test. “We don’t feel this product will reach the high-risk populations most in need of testing,” says Christopher Portelli, director of the National Lesbian and Gay Health Association. But with all its limitations, do-it-yourself HIV testing should be a boon for public health.
