Rapid HIV Test?

[steveinbsas]

In 2006 my Argentine girlfriend and I were tested (WITH THE INTENT OF REPRODUCING) at Clinica del Sol near Alto Palermo shopping. We both had coverage with OMINT. There was no drama whatsoever, but since we had to complete "special" forms that included all of our personal data it was obvious that the tests results might be "shared" with "other" agencies (aka the government).

I picked up the "no result" results about five days later.

 

[kletus]

so i dont have any obra social or prepago, and was considering going to hospital fernandez or one of the city's "centros de salud" (http://buenosaires.gov.ar/areas/salud/sida/vih/centros_testeo.php?menu_id=10995). anyone done this? if it takes much longer, id certainly rather fork over the 150 pesos. the NEXO site (center for gay men) says it takes 2 weeks to get results. like most, im doing this with a partner (argentine who does have an obra social)...just an impatient yanqui here.

 

[TheBlackHand]

Haha. That rad tech is my hero. He probably thought you were unattractive and was just being complimentary to be polite. It's part of the culture.

[quote name='Don'tMindMe']Got a heart problem diagnosed, and during that process, had to get an x-ray. Standing topless with a little radiation-blocking vest that hid nothing, arms in the air, the male tech called me linda and started asking if I had a boyfriend. I'm used to that stuff on the street, out at night and even when I'm working from time to time, but alone in a dark room, topless? I gritted my teeth, told him that yes I did have a boyfriend, and didn't say anything else. Sometimes I'm just not sure where people draw the line here. [/QUOTE]

 

[romu]

hey, go to Helios Salud http://www.heliossalud.com.ar/inicio.php its free and takes about an hour for the whole thing. You see a doctor, take the test, wait about 20 mins and the doctor gives you your results. I went once, they were really nice and its super quick!

 

[Montauk_Project]

I have gotten two HIV tests in Argentina, both were pretty uneventful. First time went to Hospital Aleman, paid for a consult, got the order for the test, and that was it. Second time I had Hospital Britanico and the doctor spent time explaining that while Hosptial Britanico would continue to treat me and it was illegal for them to deny my care, the results could be used against me--it is common practice to discriminate against workers with HIV in Argentina.
The other route is to go to a public clinic. You might have to wait on a long line but you probably won´t get much shock from the doctors as they have seen it all.

 

[DontMindMe]

Good tips from Montauk_Project. I was paying for health insurance and wanted to use it, and we also wanted an STD panel (standard practice or so I thought), which is why we went the route we did. It didn't occur to me that we might have a better experience waiting in line at public clinics or hospitals rather than using our OSDE. Can't imagine public clinics being judgmental, especially the ones oriented toward the GLBT population. Dunno if they do the panels. I remember the first lab I went to sent me to another one because they weren't capable of running one of the tests, can't remember which. Said they didn't have the capability...


Edit: Oh, ha, my original post is in this thread. Go read that one.

 

[patrick2904]

I did the test last week. First went to the Hospital Fernandez, there they told me the results would take about 20 days but it is free. Then I went to the Hospital Alemán where I had to pay 200$ and got the results 3 days after.

 

[citygirl]

I have to say that my gyn did all the tests, including HIV, as a standard practice and there was zero drama involved. She did the pap in the office and sent it off and I had to go to a lab for the blood test (amongst other tests I needed to do). My blood/urine test results including HIV were ready in a week and the pap results took about 2 weeks to come in IIRC. Zero drama and zero issues and I have OSDE.

 

[vbrizuela]

Just thought I'd share this, especially for Patrick2904. They don't usually do a panel STI testing like they do in the US. Rapid HIV testing isn't the norm (I actually didn't know Helios did this... I know most health insurances don't do this, and I work with people who are on the review panel for the govt trying to work out how to launch this in the public health sector), and they don't do urine testing for chlamydia or gonohrrea. Which means they usually test people with symptoms. All public hospitals and clinics should be able to provide testing for free as well as provide a wide range of free contraception.

However, if you have been at risk of getting any STI, a doctor could order blood tests for syphillis and HIV (which requires additional consent), a culture test for CT/GC (which might not be too much fun for men), and possibly blood tests for Herpes and HepB/C, but these two are not routinely offered.

Hope this helps.