Cheris takes an HIV test

In Charlotte, N.C., there are at least 450 people who are HIV positive and don't know it.

It's scary to take an HIV test, even if you've been careful and practice safe sex. The questions that the test administrator asks you will make you think. Did I use a condom the last time I had sex? Is my boyfriend cheating with one of those 450 people who don't know they have HIV?



Putting all of that aside, I took a rapid HIV test today. Here's how it went down:








I pretty much knew my status when I went to take this test. But, according to ABC News, the HIV rate among black women living in some U.S. cities is the same rate as that of some African countries.

"This disease is alive and well in this country," said Dr. Carlos Del
Rio, principal investigator for the Atlanta area of the study and
professor of medicine and infectious disease at Emory University School
of Medicine in Atlanta. "But this epidemic is the face of the forgotten
people."



There are "hot spots" where the disease thrives in this country, Del Rio
said, and most of those areas are some of the most impoverished parts
of the United States.

 Find a testing location in your area by clicking here.