HCV & HIV
I recently sent a message on Facebook to someone who is an HIV/AIDS activist. I spoke about being tested for HIV twice a year. I have MDD and therefore see a psychiatrist, etc. at my local MH/MR center. Twice a year, I go to a lab and wait nervously for the techs to attempt to find veins willing to be stuck with a needle and have blood drawn. Several tests are administered - one of them being for HIV. I thought about that for a while...okay, maybe Sunday and Monday...and wondered why I'm being tested for HIV when there is no way in heck I could be positive. And then I remembered I'm a carrier for Hepatitis C. Aha! The light bulb madly blinks in the distance. Both are viruses and both can be transmitted from mother to child. Even though my mother had HCV before my birth, because she has the antibodies in her blood, she passed that on to me and my sibling. So my wonderful psychiatrist, being a medical doctor, orders the HIV test for that simple reason. Good to know. Now I'll stop reading information about the two viruses and how they interact. Scary shishkabobs!