Whatever your result might be, there are now many good reasons to test and few reasons to avoid testing. It’s never a good idea to be unsure of your HIV status. Testing puts you in control.
Perhaps your HIV status is not what you think it is. A test will let you know and if you have a ‘rapid HIV test’ you don’t have to wait days for a result. A test at least once a year is a good idea for people who have more than one sexual partner. Testing at the start of a relationship as part of a full sexual health check-up also makes sense, especially if you plan on not using condoms. A test is also recommended after unprotected sex that could have put you at risk of HIV.
Remember: a negative test result in the past is no longer accurate if you’ve taken risks since.
Testing negative
If you don’t have HIV it’s good to know for certain. You can be free from worry, make a fresh start and can get on with life, making more effort to stay HIV negative. It will feel good to know you haven’t put your sexual partner(s) at risk of HIV in the past and don’t present a risk to them now.
Testing positive
With HIV treatments now so effective and easier to take there’s much less reason why a positive result should be feared like it was in the past. If someone has HIV they can expect to live a long and happy life so long as they are diagnosed early - before HIV damages their immune system - and start treatment in good time. Avoiding a test now doesn’t make HIV go away but risks you finding out later, by which time the virus has done a lot of damage and HIV drugs may not work as well. HIV-related deaths in Britain now tend to happen to people who went undiagnosed and untreated for too long.
Also, if you know you have HIV you can take steps to protect others. If you have HIV but don’t know, you could be passing it on without realising.
There is a lot of support for people who test positive – you don’t have to face it on your own.
Testing positive can save your life. And add years to it.
Finally, if you’re not a British citizen but are applying to stay in the UK, your HIV test result will not count against you, whatever the result.