We are a grass roots organization working to prevent the spread of HIV through regular testing and education.
As a sexually active person, surely you’ve been told that you are responsible for defending yourself against STDs through safer sex practices, and you absolutely are responsible for protecting yourself. So what’s our beef? Protecting other people is equally important. So many people with HIV don’t even know they are infected, and despite this, they can spread the disease just as easily as a person that does know that they carry HIV.
By not getting tested for HIV, even after your first sexual encounter, you put yourself at risk in two ways:
♦if you have contracted HIV (if you become HIV positive), you don’t know you have it unless you get an HIV blood test. You could easily give another sexual partner HIV: do you really want to be the person who gave a loved one HIV? In addition to transmission to others, not getting tested soon after an encounter gives the virus time to attack T-cells and eventually cause AIDS. As with most diseases, early detection and treatment is the key to a long, healthy life. Infections that are dectected and treated within a year are usually maintained with relative ease. If HIV is detected early, you are likely to die of causes other than HIV.
♦
if your body is still HIV negative but your mind has no way to know that, you become a question mark in a web of sexual partners. When person X, an old sexual partner, tests HIV positive and runs to you for answers, you have not helped to find the source of their HIV. Just knowing that you did NOT give person X HIV can protect that person from a life of uncertainty, and you can protect person X’s HIV positive partner by helping narrow down person X’s web: person X’s partner had HIV, too. Did they know about it? If not, person X can tell them and they can get it treated sooner.
With this in mind, get tested after every new sexual partner, and get tested before it’s too late.
Dallas HIV Testing Centers.HIV/STD Testing Center,
-(800) 682-3047.
-3600 Gaston Ave,
-Dallas, TX 75246
Advanced HIV/STD Testing-Next Day Results
-(877) 774-7767
-3600 Gaston Ave
Dallas, TX 75246
HIV/STD Testing Center
-(800) 682-3047
-221 W Colorado Blvd
-Dallas, TX 75208
HIV/STD Testing Center
-(800) 682-3047
-2909 S Hampton Rd
-Dallas, TX 75224
Need another location? Find an HIV testing center near you at HIVTEST.ORG.
HIVTEST.ORG is national database of HIV testing sites and answers to many questions about HIV/AIDS and testing. This site is easy to use and well laid out.
♦The joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS estimates that there are now 40 million people living with HIV or AIDS worldwide. Most do not know they are carring the virus.
♦In the U.S, approximately one million people have HIV or AIDS, and 40,000 Americans become newly infected with HIV each year.
♦According to UNAIDS, it is estimated that 24% of all people with HIV in the U.S do not know they are carrying the virus.
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♦Use only latex or polyurethane condoms, Lambskin condoms only provide a false sense of security.
♦Use only water-based or silicone-based lubricants. Latex condoms are virtually useless when combined with oil or petroleum-based lubricants (such as Vaseline or hand lotion), because petroleum products decompose latex.
♦If you plan to get a piercing or tattoo, be sure you are seeing a qualified professional who uses sterile equipment
Database of Tattoo laws in the United States, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. Documents typically include piercing laws.
A Directory to Tattoo and Piercing laws in many American states and Australia.
On the page linked above, the "Texas Department of Health..." link is dead. That page has moved to:
Texas Tattoo and Piercing Info
♦Use protection every single time you have sex. Using condoms "most of the time" is not a smart or reliable safer sex method.
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♦Unprotected sexual intercourse(either vaginal or anal) with someone who has HIV.
♦Unprotected oral sex with someone who has HIV.
♦Through a break in the skin, such as a cut or sore.
♦Infection during pregnancy, childbirth, or breast-feeding(mother to infant transmission)
♦Sharing needles or syringes with someone who is HIV infected.
