The approval given to the do-it-yourself HIV home test by the food and Drug administration has been a topic of constant debate by the politicians, AIDS activists, and the medical association for long. The main apprehension was that a person detecting positive through a HIV home test might be a victim of an inaccurate result and such test might increase the risk of a suicide. However, over the years, these fears have proved unfounded and FDA in 1996 approved two home collection kits for HIV home test. People could do HIV home testing privately and get the results from a certified laboratory as also counseling by calling a toll free telephone number. Observers generally argued in favor of HIV home test which provided increased access, anonymity and privacy. With FDA’s approval, the anonymous HIV home testing was available to all and many purchased the kit. No increase in rate of suicide was reported.

The advantages of conducting Human Immunodeficiency Virus home tests are plenty. In a clinic there is a chance of that person being identified, whereas if it is done at home privacy can be maintained. The tests can be ordered or bought through internet and is a convenience for disabled persons. The FDA approved tests are accurate and dependable. There are a few disadvantages too. When you order the Human Immunodeficiency Virus home test kit either on phone or through internet, your name and address must be given. A close search may reveal your identity. Another problem is that after you dispose off the testing kit, the garbage man may notice it and will know that you have taken a HIV test.

In many cases infections due to Sexually transmitted diseases are detected at a later stage and the body has already been damaged by then and it’s also late for the treatment. If early testing is done with HIV home tests, treatment can be timely done and progress of the disease to non curable state can be halted. It is true that some infections cannot be cured but there onset to lethal stage can be prevented. Laete testing may also fail to prevent STD infections from spreading. In the interval between infection and diagnosis infected persons may transmit STD to others. This can be reduced through the early testing by HIV home testing.

An element of doubt remains in the minds of many about urine and saliva being the medium for the spread of HIV and if at all the home testing of these can be recommended? It is true that urine and saliva are very unlikely sources for HIV infection. Urine is not considered to be infected by HIV. Any HIV urine test is therefore unreliable and no conclusion should be drawn from the test.

Medical diagnosis is essentially the way a physician assesses the symptoms and physical signs of an individual and assigns a label for a specific medical condition or disease. Based upon the signs, symptoms and results from various diagnostic procedures; such as lab tests conducted with blood work or other forms of analysis, a firm diagnosis can be made. Diagnostic criteria is a generalized term used to describe the combination of signs, symptoms and tests which allow a clinician to make an effective diagnosis of a form of disease.

In today’s medical world, it is the role of a clinician to make an educated diagnosis based upon particular criteria. Doctors are of course required to go through intense medical training and education, plus a stringent series of procedures and tests before they ever obtain a license to practice. Many family practitioners literally spend upwards of 15 to 20 years in various schools or undergoing various training procedures prior to being allowed to run their own clinic. Not only does a physician need to understand terms of normality, or homeostasis of the body, they also must understand the anatomy, physiology, pathology and psychology of the human body. In order for a clinician to determine what is normal, they must be able to measure a patient’s current condition against the normal range of results. Then they must determine where the patient departed from homeostasis and how to treat the problem.

Medical Art?

Some individuals have likened making a medical diagnosis to a form of art; superior clinicians are set apart by their ability to move beyond the simple science of lab tests and delve into the manipulation of physical knowledge created thousands of years ago by ancient physicians such as Hippocrates. In the modern world, many clinicians have come to rely upon lab work rather than physically checking a patient’s symptoms. The days of doctors rigorously poking and prodding your body are fading, much to the detriment of many professionals. According to Dr. Steven Y. Park, MD, the problem with many doctors these days is their obsession with discovering a rare or exotic diagnosis in order to establish a form of celebrity. This is not only a hindrance to medicine, but also a disservice to the patients.

Unfortunately, this has led to a wide variety of patients being misdiagnosed because the clinicians are failing to perform thorough physical exams. Many of the doctors are focusing upon rare oddities rather than mundane medical conditions that are simple to diagnose and easy to treat, but are passed over in favor of searching for that elusive super-disease. Establishing a diagnosis should begin with attentive listening, understanding a patient’s lifestyle and life stressors, and obtaining a holistic overview of the patient’s symptoms – as opposed to a simple review of laboratory work and imaging that is most common today.

Many of the simplest problems patients are suffering from can be diagnosed by physically inspecting the patient and taking the time to speak with them about their history, rather than looking at a chart and making a ‘guesstimate’. It is for this reason that many individuals turn to alternative medical practitioners, as holistic overviews are mandatory in such practices.