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From: rpetsche@mrg.PHYS.CWRU.Edu (rolfe g petschek)
Newsgroups: sci.med.aids
Subject: Re: HIV testing and rape
Message-ID: <1991Jun11.010810.16708@cs.ucla.edu>
Date: 10 Jun 91 17:58:54 GMT
References: <1991Jun10.150619.25217@cs.ucla.edu>
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In article <1991Jun10.150619.25217@cs.ucla.edu> gerri@watson.ibm.com (Gerri Oppedisano) writes:
>>> I am opposed to all mandatory testing for HIV.
>
>Aren't other venereal diseases tested for after a rape? 

Test for veneral diseases [which definition I would expect includes HIV]
is madated after rape by the laws of the state of Ohio vis:

2907.27 Examination and treatment for venereal disease
(A) When a person is charged with a violation of section [essentially
the rape code] of the Revised
Code, the arresting authorities or a court shall cause the accused to be
examined by a physician to determine if the accused is suffering from a
venereal disease.
(B) If the accused is found to be suffering from a venereal disease in an
infectious stage, he or she shall be required to submit to medical
treatment therefor.  If the accused is found guilty of the offense with
which he or she is charged and is placed on probation, a condition of
probation shall be that the offender submit to and faithfully follow a
course of treatment for such venereal disease.
(C) The fact that the accused was given a medical examination for
venereal disease or the results of such examination shall not be admitted
in evidence over the objection of the accused, in a prosecution for any
offense listed in division (A) of this section.

Suggested changes to this law are welcome.

>Just how unreliable is HIV testing? My impression was that it wasn't so
>totally unreliable as to not tell you anything.. particularly if the
>test results are positive. How likely is it that a positive HIV test is
>really false?

False positives, after checking, are, I believe, very uncommon in HIV.
False negatives [prior to seroconversion] are known to happen.  The
fraction of the time a person is infectious but not seropositive is, I
think, ill known.
Routine testing of victims for sexually transmitted diseases is probably
a good idea in any case.

I am by no means an expert.
--
Rolfe G. Petschek			Petschek@cwru.bitnet
Associate Professor of Physics		rgp@po.cwru.edu
Case Western Reserve University		(216)368-4035 
Cleveland Oh 44106-7970