Please find an electronic copy of NAT’s latest report ‘HIV Forensics II: Estimating the likelihood of recent HIV infection – Implications for criminal prosecutions’. The report is also available on the NAT website at:
RITA tests on HIV positive results to investigate recency of infection have now been rolled out across the UK. NAT was concerned at the possibility that these results might be misinterpreted by individuals and the legal system as proof of responsibility for HIV transmission in individual cases when in fact the tests are not appropriate for such purposes. The report explains why. We also advocate great care by clinicians, nurses and health advisers when giving RITA test results, with the use of written information (such as that produced by the HPA) to supplement verbal explanation.
We would be grateful if you could alert members of the Society of Sexual Health Advisers to this report to support best practice in the delivery of RITA test results to individuals.
Yusef Azad
Yusef Azad
Director of Policy and Campaigns
NAT
New City Cloisters
196 Old Street
London EC1V 9FR
T: +44 (0)20 7814 6732
F: +44 (0)20 7216 0111
www.nat.org.uk