Routine HIV testing at Vancouver Island hospitals beginning soon

All patients admitted to a hospital on Vancouver Island will soon be asked if they would like a voluntary HIVtest aspart of an effort to get more people in the province tested for the disease.

"WerecognizeHIV is just a routine test that needs to be undertaken, not something special as it has been in the past," saidDr. PaulHasselback, medical health officer for the central VancouverIsland.

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Starting next week,all patients admitted to hospital in Port Alberni, B.C. will be offered an HIV test as part of routine blood work. Hospitals in Campbell River and Nanaimo will follow suit this fall, and the program will be rolled out to more hospitals across the island next year.

Hasselback emphasized that thetest will be voluntary.

The outreach group Aids Vancouver Island said it supports the testingas long as patients are not pressured,and confidentiality is respected.

"Because of the stigmatized nature of the disease still, it's important that consent is obtained for the test, that people are informed that they are having the test done." said the group's executive directorKatrina Jensen.

The routine testing at island hospitals follows a pilot project in Vancouver in which 94 per centof patients accepted an HIV test when it wasoffered, according to Island Health.

It's estimated one in sixpeople have an advanced form of HIV by the time they're diagnosed, and that more than half of new infections are transmitted by people who don't know they have HIV.

B.C.'s HIV infection rate fell by 60 per cent since 1996, while rates in other provinces have remained unchanged.