Condoms are so frequently stolen from pharmacies and convenience stores that many retailers have placed them behind counters or in locked display cases. Public health advocates, however, believe retailers should distinguish the items from products such as razor blades, also pocketed often, since condoms help prevent STDs and unwanted pregnancies.

"We are certainly concerned about the availability of condoms in stores," said Eric Ostermann, executive director of the Wisconsin Public Health Association. "We'd hope they would not present any obstacles to getting their product in the community."

Advocates worry that, rather than go through a hassle, potential condom-users will risk unprotected sex, said Joanne Kennedy Coffman, director of patient services for Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. "I have a problem with them keeping condoms locked up because it's creating a barrier," she said. "Instead of being humiliated or embarrassed, I am just thinking they will have sex without them."

The condom's return to behind counters is a throwback to 1976, when Wisconsin passed a law banning the display or advertising of birth control devices, provisions thrown out by the Supreme Court the next year. During HIV's growth in the 1980s, public health agencies promoted condoms and their use soared.

"Our policy is not to lock up the condoms," said Mike DeAngelis, a spokesperson for the national CVS drugstore chain, which acquired 13 Osco drugstores in metro Milwaukee last year. "Our loss-prevention measures are designed to protect product but still keep maximum access for customers." Racks that limit the number of condoms that can be taken at a time and that "click" when dispensing a product would be considered for high-theft stores, said DeAngelis.

At Walgreens, "It's our policy not to lock up condoms, said spokesperson Carol Hively, adding, "it is in the general interest of public good and safety to keep the condoms unlocked."

We are providing the above information as a public service only. Providing synopses of key scientific articles and lay media reports on HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases  does not constitute  endorsement. The above summaries were prepared without conducting any additional research or investigation into the facts and statements made in the articles being summarized, and therefore readers are expressly cautioned against relying on the validity or invalidity of any statements made in these summaries. This CDC HIV/STD/TB Prevention News Update also includes information from CDC and other government agencies, such as background on MMWR articles, fact sheets and announcements.

 

HIV1 -  ELISA Antibodies

• Most people infected with HIV carry the virus for years before manifesting AIDS. During that period, infected people will have few, if any, symptoms yet they can transmit the virus.

• The percentage of women with AIDS has increased steadily, and the percentage of people infected heterosexually has also increased, surpassing the percentage infected through injecting drug use.

• During 2001, there were 35575 newly diagnosed cases of HIV infection. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates now that 40,000 new cases of HIV transmission occur every year.

• Of the people infected with the virus of AIDS in the USA in the year 2001, 42% were whites, 37% blacks, 20%  Hispanics and <1% Asians and Pacific Islanders and <1% American Indians and Alaska Natives.

• During the 1990s, the HIV epidemic shifted steadily toward a growing proportion of AIDS cases in blacks and Hispanics and in women.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the cause of AIDS (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome). The presence of  HIV in the body can be detected in several ways. The most common is the HIV-ELISA Antibodies test.

The HIV-ELISA  looks for the body response to the virus manifested by the presence in your blood of Antibodies to HIV proteins. Antibodies are special proteins that our Immune System produce in response to the presence of HIV.

The test performed on your sample actually consists of two tests: a Screening test and a Confirmatory test. The screening test procedure is called an ELISA—Enzyme Linked Immuno-Sorbent Assay or an EIA (Enzyme Immunosorbent Assay). The confirmatory test is used in the event your HIV-ELISA is positive and/or equivocal and is the procedure used is the Western Blot Assay (WB)

The screening and confirmatory tests are usually done using small samples of blood. If a sample of blood tests positive repeatedly in the screening test, it will be confirmed through the Western Blot test. People will be informed that they are infected with HIV only after both the screening and confirmatory tests have shown a positive (reactive) result.

Positive HIV antibody tests results are over 99% accurate when confirmed. Negative HIV antibody tests are over 99% accurate if it has been at least six months after a contact with a potentially HIV-infected partner. False negatives or false positives occur rarely.

Antibodies to HIV can be detected in the blood, in the  urine or in the saliva. People produce antibodies with different speeds and therefore the time interval between infection and the development of antibodies to HIV can go from four weeks to six months from the exposure date or SDC ( Suspected Date of  Contact). The appearance of antibodies in a blood or urine sample of a person which was known to be negative to HIV is called Seroconversion.

The HIV Elisa results are usually available in one or two business days.

 

STDWeB provides only health screening services. Tests are provided only for personal information and/or risk identification purposes. STDWeB does not diagnose or treat medical conditions.  STDWeB screenings do not take the place of a physician care.  Transactions with STDWeB are confidential and will not be shared with third parties. Tests with "positive" or "indeterminate" result may require confirmatory testing and may involve additional charges.

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