HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is the virus that causes AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). Home Access^™ HIV-1 test system provides anonymous telephone access to counseling, education, and laboratory blood testing from the privacy of your home.

Advantages of Home Access System :

• Accurate - Greater than 99.9% accurate test results -The Home Access HIV-1 Test System was evaluated in U.S. multi-center clinical studies and is as accurate as tests used by doctors and hospitals
• Safe - clinically proven (98% of users collect a blood spot as well as medical professionals)
• Confidential and anonymous - Your test results are identified only by a code number
• Convenient - May be used at home
• Results - available 24 hours a day and are back in about a week. Medically supervised and referrals are available 24 hours a day as well.
• Postage - and lab service included
• ALL DONE IN FOUR EASY STEPS !!

Difference between AIDS and HIV :HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. Nearly everyone who becomes infected with HIV develops AIDS over a period of years. AIDS is a serious condition in which the immune system is severely weakened, turning normally mild or rare diseases into potentially fatal conditions.

The importance of testing for HIV :Anyone can become infected with HIV. Most HIV-infected people look and feel healthy and have no signs of being sick. It is possible for them to infect others without even knowing it. It is a matter of what you do, not who you are. If you engage in risky behaviors, you have a chance of being infected.

New AIDS drugs are making a difference for hundreds of thousands of HIV infected individuals. While there is still no cure for AIDS, many infected individuals have regained control of their lives. New drug treatments have transformed AIDS into a manageable condition with some individuals having no detectable level of virus in their blood streams at all. There has never been a better time to get tested. Test results and counseling are completely anonymous. Our simple at-home collection method combined with our accurate laboratory testing method insures that you get a reliable test result quickly and conveniently. Using the Home Access® HIV test is a great first step in formulating your own personal prevention plan.

Our program first screens your blood specimen using a system called the Enzyme-Linked Immunoassay (ELISA). If this screen is positive (repeatedly reactive), a more specific confirmatory test, Immunofluoresence Assay (IFA) will be used. These are the same tests used by doctors in hospitals.

Test Accuracy :In clinical trials conducted at nine U.S. medical centers, test results from participants using the Home Access HIV-1 test system were compared to professionally collected venous blood specimens from the same participants. There proved to be a complete correlation between the two tests, yielding an overall test accuracy of greater than 99.9% for the Home Access HIV-1 test program. This means that the Home Access HIV-1 test program is as accurate as tests used by doctors in hospitals.

There is one HIV-1 Home Collection Test System that is currently approved by the FDA in which a sample for testing is collected in the privacy of your home and then sent to a laboratory for analysis. The "Home Access HIV-1 Test System" manufactured by Home Access Health Corporation is the only HIV-1 Home Collection Test System approved by FDA and legally sold in the United States. Be aware that there are a number of different HIV home test systems and kits that are being marketed on the Internet and through magazine or newspaper promotions that claim to detect antibodies to HIV in blood or saliva samples and provide results in the home in 15 minutes or less. The FDA has NOT APPROVED these rapid HIV-1 home test kits being promoted on the Internet for use and marketing in the United States. Some of the HIV home test kits falsely claim to be approved by the FDA or manufactured in a FDA approved/registered/licensed facility. All HIV home sample collection kits approved to date by FDA require laboratory analysis and provide counseling for the consumer.

FDA warned consumers about an unapproved, fraudulently marketed home-use HIV test system labeled "Lei-Home Access HIV test" distributed by Lei-Home Access Care located in Sunnyvale, California in a press release issued on September 26, 1997. The "Lei-Home Access HIV test" was advertised on the Internet as the "Personal HIV Test Kit" and was offered for sale through several Central Valley pharmacies. After an extensive investigation by FDA, the businessman responsible for distributing this fraudulent HIV test kit was recently sentenced to over 5 years in prison for selling the medically useless HIV test kits to consumers in the United States.

How HIV is spread :HIV is spread by sexual content with an infected person, by needle-sharing among injecting drug users, or, very rarely through transfusions of infected blood products, organ transplantation, or artificial insemination. Babies to HIV-infected women may become infected before or during birth, or through breast-feeding after birth. However, HIV is most commonly spread through risky behaviors.

Risky Behaviors : The two most risky behaviors are unprotected sex or sharing a needle or syringe. HIV can enter the body through any type of sexual intercourse, including vaginal, anal and oral sex. Unprotected sex is sexual intercourse without proper use of a latex condom. HIV may be found in semen, vaginal fluids, blood and breast milk of infected individuals. Any contact with these body fluids puts you at risk.

Injecting drugs with a needle or syringe used by another person is risky because it can contain their blood. If that person is HIV-infected, you would be injecting HIV directly into your body. You do not get HIV from touching or hugging infected people or from sharing toilets or clothes with infected people. Because of widespread screening, transplantation is extremely low.

The HIV-1 Antibody test :The human body makes antibodies to fight all kinds of infections. Your body creates HIV-1 antibodies if you become infected with the HIV-1 virus. Our program tests your blood specimen for antibodies to HIV-1.

Some people take longer than others to make antibodies to HIV-1. In most infected people, these antibodies will show up in the blood within three months. In some people, it can take up to six months or longer. This is important to know because the HIV-1 antibody tests cannot detect some recent infections. For example, if you became infected January, you might not test positive until June. It is during this period of time when people can test negative for HIV-1 antibodies but still infect others.

Availability of results :Your test results will be available for up to 30 days after you first receive them. In addition, up to three personal counseling sessions will be available for those found to be negative, indeterminate, or not tested. For those testing positive, our program offers up to six personal sessions in one year, referrals to health care professionals, and support for partner notification.