By MDJ Staff | The Marietta Daily Journal |
Cobb & Douglas Public Health will provide free, rapid HIV testing and counseling in honor of National HIV Testing Day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday.
Testing will be offered simultaneously at:
♦ The Marietta Public Health Center, Building A, 1650 County Services Parkway in Marietta.
♦ The Douglas Public Health Center, 6770 Selman Drive in Douglasville.
According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, Georgia ranked sixth in the nation for cumulative HIV/AIDS cases in 2010, with 65-percent of those cases living in the metro-Atlanta area.
“When an HIV positive person doesn’t know they are infected, they can unknowingly spread the virus to others. If HIV positive residents aren’t being tested and treated, the infection can become AIDS and that’s one of the reasons more than half of all new AIDS diagnoses come from late-stage detection of HIV,” said Rachel Franklin, CDPH director of Epidemiology. “That’s why it’s so important to get tested and know your status early on.”
The free event is open to everyone. No appointments are necessary. All testing results are confidential and are available in 20 minutes.
For more information, call (770) 514-2815 or (770) 514-2432