Montreal Gazette, Global, et al. - Bring HIV home test to canada: experts

A home test to screen for HIV - to be sold in U.S. pharmacies that also stock home-pregnancy test kits - will go a long way toward removing the stigma that still surrounds AIDS, say two prominent Montreal researchers.

Both Mark Wainberg, head of AIDS research at the Lady Davis Institute, and Nitika Pai, a clinical epidemiologist at the McGill University Health Centre, lauded the decision by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday to approve the relatively simple saliva test. And they urged Health Canada to quickly follow suit, predicting that a home test would lead to a drop in the spread of the virus that causes AIDS. However, it's not a foregone conclusion that Health Canada will grant approval so quickly.