In what I suppose is a piece of good news, the FDA has approved the first at-home HIV test. The idea for a home AIDS test has been around for almost as long as the disease itself. Development, however, was hindered for a number of reasons, one of which was a fear of increased suicides among people who discovered they were HIV positive, an AIDS diagnosis being the equivalent of a death sentence in the early days of the pandemic. Now, with the advances in medicine that have been made over the last 30 years, AIDS, while still frightening of course, has become something of a manageable, chronic disease. This reduction in the fear factor, combined with the relative simplicity of the new test--a cheek swab that provides results in 20 to 40 minutes--makes the FDA's decision look fairly common-sensical.
The fact that people will soon be able to check their own HIV status easily in the privacy of their own homes is all to the good. What's disturbing--or, at least, depressing--is the fact that some 30 years after AIDS first entered public consciousness, scientists have still not found a cure, and the disease, while perhaps not as terrifying as it once was, has become such a commonplace fixture in our society that we can buy AIDS tests as easily--and in the same place--as pregnancy tests or Doritos.
One other thing: Oraquick, the manufacturer of the new AIDS test, plans to charge slightly more than $17.50--the price charged to medical professionals--for the home test. Well, Oraquick is a for-profit company, and they do plan to use the money to fund things like a 24-hour counseling hotline. But of course some of the increased cost will come from the fact that the company needs to advertise the product. As for the prospective markets, the company plans to market to "high-risk groups, including gay men, blacks and Hispanics, and sexually-active adults."
Umm. . . Isn't that pretty much everybody? Unless the plan is to market to gay men, blacks, and Hispanics who aren't sexually active. Which would seem somewhat pointless, although it does suggest a vast untapped market for AIDS-related merchandise.
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Apropos of nothing, I just got a kick out of this:
At San Diego's massive "Big Bay Boom" fireworks display yesterday, an apparent computer glitch caused the entire supply of fireworks to go off at once, reducing an 18-minute show to about 15 seconds. I have no joke to go with that, I just thought it was hysterical.
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