HEALTH REPORT - Quick HIV Test

HEALTH REPORT – November 20, 2002: Quick HIV Test

By Jerilyn Watson

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

The United States Food and Drug Administration has approved a fast new test for
H-I-V, the virus that causes AIDS. The OraQuick test shows results in as little as
twenty minutes. Experts say this means many more people probably will be tested.
Results from most current H-I-V tests take days or even weeks. The F-D-A says the
new test reports correct results almost one-hundred percent of the time.

OraSure Technologies Incorporated¹ of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania developed the
OraQuick test It requires a single drop of blood from a person’s finger. The blood
is placed in a small container with a special liquid. A testing stick is placed in the
liquid.

The test finds if antibodies to H-I-V are present in the person’s blood. Antibodies are proteins the body
produces after an infection. However, people infected with H-I-V usually do not develop antibodies to the virus
for three months. So people at risk should be tested again if a first test does not show antibodies.

An estimated nine-hundred-thousand Americans are infected with H-I-V. But experts say up to twenty-five
percent of these people do not know they are infected. Currently², about half the people tested for H-I-V in public
health centers fail to return to learn the results of the test. Health officials say the new test will enable people with
H-I-V to start treatment sooner. People who know they have the virus also can change their sexual³ activities to
prevent spreading the virus to other people.

Health officials also say the OraQuick test may reduce the spread of H-I-V from mothers to newborn babies. A
pregnant⁴ woman could be tested before she gives birth. The test can also help health workers. It can tell if they
have been threatened by blood from infected patients. If so, the workers can start drug treatment immediately to
prevent getting the virus.

The F-D-A has approved the test for use in hospitals, medical centers and doctors’ offices that meet federal
laboratory requirements. But the government has asked the company that makes the test to request that these
requirements be eased. This would mean that many more health centers could give the test.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson praised the test as a very important step in
America’s fight against AIDS.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Jerilyn Watson.

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1 incorporated   

a.结合的，并为一体的

参考例句：

• Many of your suggestions have been incorporated in the plan. 你的很多建议已纳入计划中。
• These conditions must be expressly incorporated into the contract of employment. 这些条件都必须明确地写进雇佣合同之中。

2 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

3 sexual   

adj.性的，两性的，性别的

参考例句：

• He was a person of gross sexual appetites.他是个性欲旺盛的人。
• It is socially irresponsible to refuse young people advice on sexual matters.拒绝向年轻人提供性方面的建议是对社会不负责任。

4 pregnant   

adj.怀孕的，怀胎的

参考例句：

• She is a pregnant woman.她是一名孕妇。
• She is pregnant with her first child.她怀了第一胎。