Wherever Sex Happens

If you are having sex, then you should be getting tested for HIV and STIs. Testing every 3 months is recommended for men who have sex with different guys. If you are in a monogamous relationship (where you are only having sex with each other), it is recommended that you get tested at least once a year.

You can tested for HIV in several ways, such as:

• Seeing a doctor and having a blood test;
• Getting a rapid HIV test;
• Using a home HIV test kit. 

When you get tested for HIV, they aren’t actually looking for HIV. What they are looking for is something called ‘HIV antibodies’. HIV antibodies are produced when HIV has entered your body and your body responds to try and fight the virus. So all HIV tests look for your body’s reaction to the virus. It can take up to 3 months for HIV antibodies to show up in a HIV test, and this is what we call the window period. The window period is the time in between when you had sex, HIV entered your body and for it to show up in a test. Because of this window period it is important to get tested regularly.

Pre-test discussion

If you are getting tested for HIV, the doctor or nurse will take a sexual history before testing. They will ask you some very personal questions about your sex life and it can sometimes be embarrassing or make you feel awkward, but it’s important to answer honestly. Some questions might include:

• Whether you are currently having sex?
• When was the last time you had sex, and did you use a form of protection?
• How many people have you had sex with?
• When was your last test for HIV?
• Have you had sex while travelling or with someone who has been travelling through Australia?
• What types of sex have you had? Have you had anal sex, oral sex?
• Have you ever injected drugs before?
• Do you use condoms, or another form of prevention, such as PrEP
  
• Current and previous sexual partners
• Partners from overseas
• Sexual practices (i.e. anal, vaginal or front hole sex etc)

Once they have run through your sexual health history and given you the pre-test discussion, then the doctor or nurse will take a blood sample from you. This will happen with a needle into your arm. It only lasts a few seconds. Then this blood sample is sent off to a laboratory and tested for HIV antibodies. 

It can take a few days and up to a week to get your result back. Legally, any positive result needs to be given in person and accompanied by a post-test discussion.

If you test HIV -positive, then  the doctor, counsellor or nurse can help you consider the following issues:

• How to cope with the result;
• What a positive diagnosis means;
• Thinking about who to tell;
• What support you can access; and
• The treatment options are available to you.

You may also be asked to help contact your past and present sex partners. Someone will be available to help you do this confidentially.

Rapid HIV Testing is very similar to getting tested for HIV  with a blood sample. It also involves having a sexual history taken and a pre- and post-test discussion. The biggest difference between blood tests for HIV and rapid tests for HIV are the time it takes for a result and how they test for HIV.  

Rapid HIV testing is a test to detect HIV using a finger prick or oral swab sample and it takes 15 minutes to provide a result.

The results from a rapid HIV test are different to traditional HIV tests. As the name suggests, the rapid test can give a result in 15 minutes. The more traditional HIV test can take up to a week to determine the result.

There are three possibilities from having a rapid HIV test, these are:

• Non-reactive – which means that HIV ant-bodies were not detected in the test;
• Reactive – which means that it is highly likely that HIV antibodies were detected; and
• Invalid – which means that the test result was not clear.

If you receive a non-reactive result, you still need to take into account the window period, which refers to the amount of time it can take for HIV antibodies to show up in a test. 

For that reason, it’s recommended that you get tested again in 3 months’ time.

If you receive a reactive result, it is important to understand that this is an early result and it needs to be confirmed with a blood test to confirm that HIV antibodies have really been detected. Although it is rare, the device (oral swab or finger prick) can return what is known as a ‘false positive’. This means that the test has thought something was in your body when it wasn’t. For the finger prick test, which is available in Australia, this occurs in about 1 out of every 200 tests performed.

A number of places offer rapid HIV testing across Australia, find one nearest you.

Recently, home based rapid HIV testing kits have been approved for use in Australia.

The HIV self-test is a small device containing a paper test strip. It is similar in size and shape to a USB drive. The test is a finger prick blood test and after you have done the test, you will be able to read the result in 15 minutes. The test will provide you with instructions on how to use it. 

There is currently only one test approved for sale in Australia, the Atomo HIV Self-Test. It is important to only buy devices approved for sale, so you can be sure the result is accurate and that the device is safe to use.

The HIV self-test has been shown to correctly identify 99.6% of HIV negative and HIV positive samples. Like other HIV tests, the self-test may not detect HIV that is a new infection (within the last 3 months) because you may not have developed antibodies yet.  

Getting a reactive result does not necessarily mean you have HIV. If you have received a reactive result on the self-test, it will still need to be confirmed with further testing by a blood sample. You can get information on the test box about who to call and what to do if this happens. 

You can contact your local HIV/AIDS organisation, if you live in Victoria, contact Thorne Harbour Health on (03) 9865 6700, in South Australia contact SAMESH on (08) 7099 5300 or you can purchase them from atomo directly.

Testing every 3 months is recommended for men who have sex with different guys. If you are in a monogamous relationship (where you are only having sex with each other), it is recommended that you get tested at least once a year. Some STIs show no symptoms, so getting tested is the only way to know for sure. 

If you do have symptoms of an STI, they may include:

• An unusual discharge from your cock;
• Itching or stinging when you piss;
• Sores, blisters or rashes around or near your cock and balls.

Similar to getting a test for HIV, the doctor or nurse will take a sexual history before testing. They will ask you questions about your sex life including:

• Whether you are currently having sex?
• When was the last time you had sex, and did you use a form of protection?
• How many people have you had sex with?
• When was your last test for HIV and STIs?
• Have you had sex while traveling or with someone who has been traveling through Australia?
• What types of sex have you had? Have you had anal sex, oral sex?
• Do you use condoms? 

When you get tested for STIs, then will usually do a few things. This can include taking a sample of your piss, taking a swab of your mouth, anus and around the cock, and a blood sample. Most doctors will let you take your own swabs of your anus in private and you can usually give your piss test in the private bathroom. 

With all testing it is important to know what you are being tested for.

You cannot be tested for STI’s without your permission. Talk to your doctor if you are unsure what you need to be tested for and what tests they are doing. 

Test results will usually take 7 – 10 days to come back and you will need to make another appointment to receive these results in person depending upon the test and the result. If all your tests are clear, it’s possible to be notified by text message by the clinic if you prefer.

It is important to get regular sexual health check-ups, to maintain your own sexual health and that of your partners.

If you have an STI, talk to all the people you’ve had sex with recently and suggest they get tested. Sometimes this isn’t easy. Discuss how to talk to partners about STIs with your doctor, a counsellor or a friend. It’s important to talk to your sex partners so they can get tested and treated too.

If you feel that you cannot tell your sexual partners there are ways you can do this anonymously via the ‘Let Him Know’ service on the Drama Downunder website.

There are clinics and services all over Australia, the best services to check are Drama Dowunders find a clinic service and Emen8’s service map.