Caragh Logan gives her frank and honest thoughts on HIV/AIDS, as she gears up to get tested for the first time on World AIDS Day...

With World's Aids Day (December 1) swiftly approaching, isn't it about time that we engaged in an open and frank discussion about sexual health? I think of myself as fairly in-the-know about such things as HIV and AIDS. Still, at 25 years old I had never had an HIV test.

In the spirit of open discussion I am going to be fairly frank. Earlier this month I was experiencing pain in my ovarian area and after being sent to A&E with a suspected ectopic pregnancy, I was advised to attend the GUM clinic for an internal examination and an ultrasound. I was also offered a general sexual health test (including HIV) and despite having been with the same partner for many years (and we had both taken tests upon entering into a physical relationship), I agreed.

'I'll be completely honest and admit that I usually turn down HIV tests for two reasons; I'm petrified of needles and I have never considered myself to be at risk of contracting the disease'

I'll be completely honest and admit that I usually turn down HIV tests for two reasons; I'm petrified of needles and I have never considered myself to be at risk of contracting the disease. I can count the number of partners I've had on one hand and although I have had unprotected sex, only ever with long-term, fully trusted partners.

The doctor then asked me some probing questions in order to determine my level of risk,

"Who is the riskiest person you have ever had sex with?"

I was taken aback. "I'm not sure. My ex I guess?" I replied. When asked what it was about my ex that was risky I found it even harder to answer and with not a lot of thought I pushed the question aside. Then the doctor ran through a list of high risk partners,

"No intravenous drug users? Bi-sexual partners? No-one that is not from this country, especially African or Caribbean partners?"

My first serious boyfriend was Angolan, but had moved to England as a child. The risk had never occurred to me before, I guess at 16 I had not been mature enough to even consider the risk. So a decade later, I put my fear of needles aside and took the test.

The next evening I received a call from a friend who is currently working for a sexual health charity. Her job is to directly target young people and encourage them to take a sexual health test, there and then. This particular evening my friend was rather distressed and explained to me that for the first time, in her experience, a test had come back HIV positive. Apparently a young girl had agreed to an HIV test, though she was unconcerned as she had only ever had one partner.

'It is estimated that around 25% of the people living with HIV or AIDS in the UK are undiagnosed, so realistically the amount of time that you have been with one partner and how much you may trust them means nothing unless they have had a test'

As I listened to my friend relaying what had happened, the severity of my own situation was dawning on me. When you have unprotected sex, you are not only having sex with your partner but also all of the people that they have slept with. If you have had sex with somebody that was born in Africa, or somewhere else with high HIV rates, then the chances of that person having come in to contact with HIV are (unfortunately) far greater than your own (presuming you were born and brought up in the UK).

With this realisation I was kicking myself for the decade or so that I was sexually active without having had an HIV test. And there are more like me out there; the girl that my friend encountered had never sought an HIV test because she didn't see that her sexual behaviour had caused her any risk. As it turns out, not only had she contracted the virus but without this diagnosis she could have unknowingly passed it on to somebody else.

My results are due on tomorrow, on Wednesday December 1, which is coincidentally World AIDS Day. While I am hugely optimistic that they will come back clear, I am now very aware that ignorance is no longer acceptable. It is estimated that around 25% of the people living with HIV or AIDS in the UK are undiagnosed, so realistically the amount of time that you have been with one partner and how much you may trust them means nothing unless they have had a test. It is our right to protect ourselves and responsibility to protect each other.

Words and photo: Caragh Logan

Note: Caragh's test results came back negative. She provided this quote:

"I breathed a huge sigh of relief on hearing my test results yesterday, as expected they all came back negative. I would encourage anyone that is sexually active to take regular sexual health tests and to use protection to dramatically decrease your risk of contracting and STI's in the first place."

For more information on HIV testing, click here.

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