UA students get a lesson with HIV testing

More than 200 of the reported cases were Pima County residents between ages 13 and 29, according to December county statistics.

"We feel that if people choose to be sexually active, then we want them to be making a clear decision...and to be doing it the safest way possible," said Marian E. Binder, a campus health clinical psychologist.

Pima County AIDS Statistics Year Diagnosed Reported Cases Cases 1983 4 2 1984 4 1 1985 25 17 1986 38 21 1987 57 51 1988 64 33 1989 74 68 1990 94 52 1991 130 60 1992 183 108 1993 146 270 1994 138 148 1995 121 114 1996 116 161 1997 92 134 1998 63 109 total 1349 1349 source: Pima County Health Department statistics, Dec. 1998.

During campus health counseling sessions, students are given an opportunity to discuss the circumstances under which they engage in sex and other activities that put them at risk, Binder said.

"We feel really strongly that there should be a broad educational focus," she said. "We talk to people not just about HIV, but about the risks for other sexually transmitted diseases and, of course, about prevention."

Binder does an assessment of a student's concerns, risk factors, timing of infection and possible risks and exposures.

"There is a tendency for students to be worried about HIV because it has gotten so much press, but in fact a student on this campus is much more likely to get chlamydia or genital herpes," she said. "The rates are much higher. We try to emphasize general risk reduction, not just HIV."

UA Campus Health returns test results after two weeks and charges $16.

While test records are confidential, the state of Arizona mandates that names, addresses and test results be released to the Department of Health Services if a student has an STD.

The health department uses the information to track infections in the state, but does not release names to anyone, Binder said.

"People get kind of freaked out about it," she said. "It's basically a public health surveillance kind of issue."

Campus Health is not permitted to withhold its records from the state. Completely anonymous testing is allowed only at select clinics chosen by the Arizona Department of Health Services.

The Pima County Health Department's Teresa Lee Clinic offers anonymous testing and counseling at 332 South Freeway St. and has implemented an oral test called the OraSure testing antibodies with a swab.

"It gives people an opportunity to know their HIV status anonymously," said Floyd Meeks, senior AIDS health educator with the department.

Binder said information has never been leaked from her UA office.