Mandatory HIV testing for couples and pregnant mothers

25 Dec 2004, Berita Harian

Question

Mandatory HIV testing for couples and pregnant mothers

Berita Harian (25 Dec 2004, p19) carried a reader's letter saying that while the intention of making HIV testing mandatory for couples to be wed and pregnant mothers were good, he asked that the government take into consideration the views of a group of experts on several issues. He highlighted reports from WHO which said that HIV tests would not be able to identify the HIV virus but could only show the existence of antibodies to fight the virus; a positive result did not mean that a person had been infected; and that the test had not been found to be 100 per cent accurate. Suggesting the test was not foolproof, he expressed concerns that a false positive result could cause a person to experience undue stress and that the person might be given "toxic" medication which could destroy him and not the HIV virus, which might not even exist in his body.

Reply

Reply from MOH 

Ensuring accuracy for HIV testing 

In Mr Mustaffa Muhamat Bakri's letter published on 25 Dec 2004, he expressed concern that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) tests might not be 100% foolproof and that false alarms resulting from the testing might provide undue stress and harm to a persons life. 

The ministry would like to assure him that doctors and clinical laboratories do not make a diagnosis of HIV hastily. As a routine all samples with a positive screening test will be re-tested and subjected to further more specific confirmatory tests reducing false positives to virtually zero. In addition, any person found to be still positive will be discreetly interviewed to determine exposure to HIV. Treatment will not be started unless the doctor is thoroughly convinced that there is a definite history of exposure to risk. 

We hope the above has correctly addressed the readers concern and to allay any fear that the reader might have towards the validity of HIV testing.