Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By IAN MINIELLY
Bessemer — The Western Upper Peninsula Health Department is offering rapid HIV testing.
HIV tests are still anonymous and now only take 20 minutes after the finger prick is complete, which allows people to know results before they leave the office, according to Laura Fredrickson, HIV case manager and services director in Marquette. The kits are provided by the state health department, which allows local health departments to offer the testing for free.
Kate Beer, health officer with the Hancock office of the WUPHD, said, “The Upper Peninsula is not a hot bed of infection, but the area could see an increase in infections with the continuation of the opioid epidemic gripping this area.”
The WUPHD has been offering the rapid tests for about a year and Fredrickson said, “Testing is the best method to stop the spread,” because people have to know they have HIV before they can get involved in a Continuum of Care program.
People are often afraid to get tested, said Fredrickson. She knows people still living 20 to 30 years after an infection.
The treatment regime in use today is no longer worse than the illness, as there are multiple medications with fewer side effects than were available at the onset of the illness in the 1980s and 1990s, when treatments often had little effect on the illness.
Fredrickson said, “The Hepatitis C infection rate in Marquette is climbing, which is generally associated with needle sharing, drug use, and people making poor decisions, but HIV has not followed suit, at this point.”
Fredrickson said there are around 100 known and actively infected people in the whole Upper Peninsula.
If a person contacts the health department to request a test and it comes back positive, the health department will immediately seek a more in-depth blood draw to confirm, because there are still false positives.
If a blood test confirms the infection, the individual, on a voluntary basis, is encouraged to get involved with active case management and the Continuum of Care program.
The case management of an HIV infection involves an appointment with a skilled doctor in treating HIV, as well as an income and insurance evaluation to gauge where the patient stands health and security-wise.
Help is available in each category, as necessary. The focus of HIV case management, according to Fredrickson, is keeping people in care and on treatment.
People the Marquette County Health Department recommends consider testing include:
—Those already infected with a sexually transmitted disease, or using intravenous drugs.
—Men engaging in sexual activities with other men.
—People who have had more than one sexual partner, have had sex with a prostitute (male or female), received a blood transfusion between 1978 and 1985, or women with identifiable risks or are pregnant or seeking to get pregnant.
—People being tested or treated for TB.
—Anyone with significant exposure to someone else who is infected, and anyone who has had sex with someone satisfying one of the above criteria.
The health department in Gogebic County is at 210 N. Moore St. in Bessemer and the phone number is 906-667-0200. The health department in Ontonagon County is at 408 Copper St. in Ontonagon; 906-884-4485.
