HIV Testing Strategies Mathematical Model Seminar - Susan Cassels

Event Date: 

Wednesday, November 18, 2015 - 3:30pm to 5:00pm

Event Date Details: 

Refreshments served at 3:15pm

Event Location: 

  • South Hall 5607F

Event Price: 

Free

  • Department Seminar Series

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first over-the-counter home-use HIV test in 2012. Public health departments have started to implement programs to increase their use; however, the potential impact of these tests on the HIV epidemic among men who have sex with men (MSM) is unknown. Home-use HIV tests may reduce HIV incidence if used by MSM who would otherwise not test or if they increase rates of testing, diagnosis and treatment. However, home-use tests may increase transmission if men replace clinic-based tests with home-use tests because the relatively long window period of available tests can result in false-negative tests during acute infection when HIV-infected persons are most infectious. The aim of this research is to inform public health approaches to promote safe and effective home-use HIV testing strategies for diverse populations of MSM. Using dynamic HIV transmission modeling, we find that if home-use HIV tests replace clinic-based testing, HIV prevalence may increase among Seattle MSM, even if home-use tests result in increased testing. Using data from two different epidemiologic settings in the U.S., Seattle and Atlanta, future work will use stochastic network models to estimate how different strategies of home-use HIV testing at the individual and partnership levels affects HIV incidence.