Other states allow testing only by trained medical personnel. The North Carolina legislature plans to submit an application to the FDA to block selling of home-based collection devices. Fox Field expects other states to follow. This result would eliminate the need for such people to use health clinics for testing and would avail the scarce resources for people who are more likely to be HIV-positive, thus genuinely in need of the tests. Rapid self-diagnosis, which potentially sidesteps any connection between the consumer and the health care system or even the test manufacturer, makes data collection seem even less likely.
Informed consent is another issue.
An easy, rapid self-diagnostic test that uses blood or saliva could be abused, Kassler warned. Unwilling parties could be forced to submit to HIV testing at home or when applying for a job, for example. All rights reserved.