HIV Rates On the Rise in Bergen County: Non-Profit Offers Free Testing Saturday

HIV is on the rise in Bergen County, said Paula Tenebruso, the HIV/AIDS supervisor and eP-TAS coordinator at Bergen Family Center.

To increase awareness and promote safety, eP-TAS is hosting a free, confidential HIV testing event at the picnic area at Van Saun Park this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The test is done by a single finger prick. In 20 minutes, participants will know if they have HIV or not. Participants should look for someone in a yellow eP-TAS shirt or go to the mobile testing vehicles in the area.

According to aids.gov, more than 1.2 million people are living in the U.S. with HIV. One in eight people don’t know they have the virus.

“Many people are under the assumption HIV testing is included when they do regular blood work. It's not,” Tenebruso said. “It's up to all of us who are having sex, even if in a committed relationship or married, to get tested once a year. It should be a part of everyone’s yearly health check.”

Tenebruso said that in 2015, her outreach identified 32 newly diagnosed people or people who knew they were positive but not in care for at least six months or more.

There are no official studies as to why the HIV rates are increasing in Bergen County, but Tenebruso believes there are numerous misconceptions about HIV that lead people to danger because of how misinformed they are.

Many people are afraid to get tested because of the stigma about HIV. People are worried that others will look at them as “dirty” when they request a test, Tenebruso said.

Tenebruso works against the stigma by educating people that anyone who has unprotected oral, vaginal or anal sex is at risk for contracting HIV. Tenebruso wants to put the myth that someone must be "gay or promiscuous in order to contact HIV" to rest because it's "simply not the case," she said.

It’s a common misconception that people can only get HIV if they’re gay. While HIV rates are highest in gay and bisexual men, heterosexual contact accounted for 24 percent of estimated HIV diagnoses in 2014, aids.gov reported.

Another misbelief is that people can only get HIV through IV drug use. In 2014, a mere six percent of HIV diagnoses were attributed to injection drug use, aids.gov reported.

“The fact is, alcohol is a higher risk factor than IV drug use because inhibitions are reduced,” Tenebruso said.

Tenebruso said another factor of increased HIV rates in Bergen County might be because of people who have HIV and feel they don’t need to protect themselves since their medication is so effective.

“Because treatment is so good, some people feel if they happen to contract HIV, they can simply take a pill once a day and it’s no big deal,” Tenebruso said.

When taken properly and diligently, anti-HIV drugs can make a person's viral load, or the amount of HIV in their blood, go down. Ideally, anti-HIV drugs will lower a person's viral load to undetectable levels. When a person is considered undetectable, the virus doesn't show up on their blood tests, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Undetectable doesn't mean cured. For a person to be declared undetectable, their viral load is under 40 to 75 copies in a sample of their blood, said aids.gov. But, HIV isn't completely gone from the person's body and the person still needs to take medication to remain healthy.

Bergen Family Center receives grants and collaborates with many providers so anyone, regardless of insurance, can get access to health care in a safe and private way.

Bergen Family Center works closely with the City of Paterson, who was awarded a Special Project of National Significance grant to support coordination of prevention, testing, and care services to monitor client outcomes. The grant also includes an outreach program, eP-TAS, to increase HIV testing and make it free and accessible for members of the community.

Anyone who gets tested at Van Saun Park this Saturday will receive a free $10 gift card. There will also be free food, raffles, and giveaways. For more information, call Tenebruso at 201-563-3819.

Photo courtesy of UNICEF Ethiopia via Flickr.