NYC, home of the never-ending party, home of dancing and smooching in uni-sex bathrooms, home of cutting the line cause you’re cool enough (okay, not us.. but…), home of fun times and one-night stands—and home of HIV testing. That’s right, after the party it’s time to get responsible. It’s time to realize that perhaps our behavior has consequences. So, if we are responsible enough and we care about our health—we live our lives—but we also get to a certified STD clinic for HIV testing.
Back in NYC in the 1980s it was an anything goes philosophy. People were hooking up in “singles bars,” in your run-of-the-mill bars and at bath houses. But things got bad. AIDS arrived and scared our collective butts back into some semblance of normalcy. There’s nothing wrong with having a good time when night falls—but it is important to protect ourselves from the plagues that still haunt society.
Way back in 1981 five homosexual guys in Los Angeles came down with a rare form of pneumonia. It was a type that only struck people whose immune systems were severely compromised. This was the first time that HIV and AIDS hit the public consciousness.
Thirty years after this event, the HIV virus has struck a deep swath of destruction across the world. It is believed that over sixty million individuals worldwide have been infected by this terrible disease and over half that amount has fallen victim to it. Dead.
These days AIDS is not a guaranteed death sentence. With HIV testing and all the new medicines available to those infected, lifetimes are lived. People infected are not struck down in the prime of their life any more. This is a very positive thing, yet without AIDS testing and general awareness of the threat things can get worse. In NYC people should be even more aware.
The new drugs on the market affect your T cell count. It is these cells that help your body fight all forms of infection. Basically, your T cell count is the measure of your immune system. The first drug on the market, during the heyday of HIV testing and popular awareness, was AZT. It was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1987. It was a harbinger of things to come. Finally there was help available for those suffering from HIV and AIDS.
Fortunately AZT has many more counterparts. AZT would stave off the inevitable—death— but didn’t do as much to get an infected person back to health as the newer drugs that are on the market today. This new class of drugs is called protease inhibitors. It is through these drugs and a mixture of the older drugs do we get what is known as the “drug cocktail” and is helping to give infected individuals their life back.
HIV test is the first step in knowing your status. If further help is needed it is only through this testing that you can realize that the time has come. No one should look back on their lives with regret, but there is always the opportunity to take responsibility for what has come before.
If you live in the NYC area—and would like to have STD testing done—log onto HIV testing NYC or call 1-212-696-5900 for more information on the center. It is easily accessible by mass transit, as it is conveniently located just two blocks from Grand Central Station. Get there. Get testing. Begin taking responsibility.
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