As a general rule, your medical record, including your HIV status, is confidential. In most states, your physician must protect your confidentiality; physicians can disclose information about patients only under certain conditions. In fact, no one with access to your HIV status—laboratory staff, hospital staff, nurses, secretaries—is allowed to reveal your name. Your name can [...]

Chronos, from Greek, means “time.” Chronic diseases are distinguished from acute diseases because they are drawn out over time. The sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) often have acute phases, but almost all of them have a chronic phase. Their acute phase often involves a lesion, pain, and inflammation near the site of entry a few days [...]

There are three main types of tests for testing the blood for HIV infection. These include tests to (a) detect antibodies; (b) identify HIV itself and estimate the number of HIV virus in the body; and (c) provide an estimate of the number of T cells in the blood. Of these three types, the most [...]