Arkansas Department of Health

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HIV Testing

About 1 in 7 people with HIV don’t know they have it.

Knowing your status gives you powerful information that you can use to keep you and others healthy. If left untreated, HIV harms your immune system making it harder for your body to fight off infections and some other diseases, like cancer.

Most ADH Local Health Units provide counseling, testing and treatment for HIV and STDs. To find a location near you, click here.

If you are HIV-positive, you can begin treatment as soon as you are diagnosed and can improve and lengthen your quality of life. Worried about how you will access care? The ADH Ryan White HIV/AIDS program can help even if you don’t have the money or health insurance, click here to read more about the program. 

Testing for HIV

Once HIV enters the body, the immune system starts to produce antibodies – (chemicals that are part of the immune system that recognize invaders like bacteria and viruses and mobilize the body's attempt to fight infection). In the case of HIV, these antibodies cannot fight off the infection, but their presence is used to tell whether a person has HIV in his or her body. In other words, most HIV tests look for the HIV antibodies rather than looking for HIV itself. There are tests that look for HIV's genetic material directly, but these are not in widespread use.

The most common HIV tests use blood to detect HIV infection. Tests using oral fluid or urine are also available. Some tests take a few days for results, but rapid HIV tests can give results in about 20 minutes. All positive HIV tests must be followed up by another test to confirm the positive result. Results of this confirmatory test can take a few days to a few weeks.

In most cases the EIA (enzyme immunoassay), used on blood drawn from a vein, is the most common screening test used to look for antibodies to HIV. A positive (reactive) EIA must be used with a follow-up (confirmatory) test such as the Western blot to make a positive diagnosis. There are EIA tests that use other body fluids to look for antibodies to HIV. These include: 

• Oral Fluid Tests – use oral fluid (not saliva) that is collected from the mouth using a special collection device. This is an EIA antibody test similar to the standard blood EIA test. A follow-up confirmatory Western Blot uses the same oral fluid sample. 
• Urine Tests – use urine instead of blood. The sensitivity and specificity (accuracy) are somewhat less than that of the blood and oral fluid tests. This is also an EIA antibody test similar to blood EIA tests and requires a follow-up confirmatory Western Blot using the same urine sample. 

Downloads & Resources

Free HIV Testing Services