CHOP offers free HIV testing

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia now offers free, anonymous HIV testing, according to Jackie Kozloski, a public relations agent for CHOP. Testing is available to the community every Wednesday from 5 to 8 p.m. at the hospital's Primary Care Center at St. Leonard's Court on 39th Street. CHOP joins the growing number of Philadelphia organizations which are offering HIV testing in order to combat the growing epidemic. Brett Rudy, medical director of the Adolescent HIV Initiative at CHOP, feels this program is unique because "it is the only outreach program in Philadelphia that is specifically targeted toward young people." The program is directed toward 12 to 24-year-olds, according to Jim Vagnoni, the HIV coordinator and program director of special immunology at CHOP. "This is critically needed since the average dormancy for HIV is seven to 10 years," he said. "This means that 20-year olds with the virus are infected during their mid-teen years." Vagnoni said he hopes that the program will expand to test teens for all STD's in the future, explaining that extensive testing is crucial, since the West Philadelphia area is one of the leading areas in the nation of STD's among teens. The program hopes to reach young teens with no other support or anywhere else to turn, Vagnoni said, adding that this includes kids on the streets as well as cross-dressing and gay teens. "We plan to work with clubs for cross-dressers to try and reach those people," he said. He added that the program will also offer testing to houses with programs for runaways or gay teens. Vagnoni went on to say that 70 percent of the diagnosed cases are contracted from either heterosexual sex or intravenous drug use. "This is obvious from the growing levels of young women infected with the virus," Rudy said. Vagnoni agreed, saying that the section of the city with the highest number of teens giving birth -- a pocket of West Philadelphia -- is also the section of the city with the highest number of diagnosed AIDS cases. He added that the section of North Philadelphia with the highest level of IV drug use is the section with the second highest number of AIDS cases. "We shouldn't however, assume that only those teens in high risk areas are the one who need to be tested," Rudy said. "There really shouldn't be such a word as 'high-risk' teens." Vagnoni added that there are exceptions to every rule. "A Penn student probably isn't a high-risk student, but a fooling-around Penn student might be," he said.