This article from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) describes the differential impact that HIV has on various racial and ethnic minorities. Also included are several links to fact sheets produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describing HIV risk by race/ethnicity and sexual orientation.
This article discusses the different types of tests available for HIV, and how to choose one based on characteristics such as timing of exposure and availability. Also included is a toll-free number for the CDC for asking questions related to HIV testing.
This is a full Glossary of terms related to HIV from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of AIDS Research (OAR), which is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The searchable online version of the glossary can be found at https://clinicalinfo.hiv.gov/en/glossary.
This is an edited version of the full Glossary, with the main terms related to HIV included.
RAPID (Rapid ART Program for Individuals with an HIV Diagnosis) is a health system intervention to facilitate ART initiation as soon as possible after diagnosis by addressing structural barriers.
RAPID comprises several components:
1) a same-day appointment with an on-call HIV specialty physician or nurse practitioner and taxi vouchers for immediate transportation from the testing site to the clinic;
2) a same-day appointment that includes education efforts conducted by a prescribing health care professional regarding HIV infection, risk reduction and sexual health, and benefits of ART; an assessment for contraindications to ART; an explanation of options for a patient to decline treatment; and baseline lab work;
3) an accelerated insurance approval process;
4) pre-approved ART regimens that can be used without the results from genotyping or laboratory testing;
5) 5- day starter pack for each regimen to initiate ART provided to those without immediate insurance coverage;
6) an offer of the first dose to be given in the office with provider support;
7) and a telephone follow-up by a nurse within the first 7 days. The initial followup visit is scheduled between 1 to 7 days, depending on provider assessment.
People with HIV should take medicine to treat HIV as soon as possible to:
• Improve their own health
• Prevent transmitting HIV to other people.
HIV medicine can reduce the amount of HIV in the blood (also called viral load). HIV medicine can make the viral load so low that a test can’t detect it. This is called undetectable viral load. Having an undetectable viral load (or staying virally suppressed*) is the best thing people with HIV can do to stay healthy. If their viral load stays undetectable, they have effectively no risk of transmitting HIV to an HIV-negative partner through sex.
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