STD testing will be offered during new testing hours including free syphilis screening
DAVID TAFFET | Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com
Through a partnership with the Texas Department of State Health Services, Resource Center Dallas will begin HIV and STD testing on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. beginning May 21, RCD officials announced this week
Testing will be offered at the Nelson-Tebedo Community Clinic, 4012 Cedar Springs Road.
A rapid test will offer HIV results within 20 minutes. That will be confirmed through a Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing that can detect HIV as soon as 14 days after infection. The rapid test window of detection is about three months after infection.
Last year, 30 NAAT tests given at Nelson-Tebedo confirmed HIV that rapid testing did not detect. That was out of about 3,000 tests given in 2010, or 1 percent.
Bret Camp, associate executive director for health and medical services at Resource Center Dallas, said results from the NAAT test take a week and so does testing for other STDs.
Testing for syphilis is free but there is a fee for other STD tests which include chlamydia, gonorrhea and human papillomavirus. Confidential HIV testing is free. Anonymous testing through a unique identifier is at a small charge.
All results are given in person.
Although walk-ins for Saturday testing are accepted, Camp said that appointments are encouraged.
“By adding these Saturday testing hours, it will now be more convenient than ever to take charge of your health,” Camp said.