THE United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a warning about home HIV test kits being dumped in developing countries. Dr Steven Toovey from the British Airways Travel Clinic warned that none of the kits, some of which are being sold in South Africa, have been found to be reliable enough to be allowed in the United States. Toovey said one of the fears is that these tests could give a false negative and that the person infected with HIV will continue to have unsafe sex. The FTC has taken legal action against four distributors of the kits in the United States, sending one California businessman to jail for five years, as the kits were not approved for home testing. Toovey said another problem with the home tests is that the person does not receive proper counselling which enables them to interpret the results properly or enable them to be able to deal with a possible positive test. – Own Correspondent
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