Tests will help eliminate AIDS

British Columbia leads the country in reducing the spread of AIDS – there’s no reason it can’t lead the world in eliminating the disease altogether.

B AIDS is one of the world’s deadliest diseases, afflicting nearly 40 million people. Although it is so far incurable, it can be contained, and most important of all, it can be prevented.

Dr. Julio Montaner, director of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, believes the disease can be stopped. He’s among the province’s medical experts who have launched a four-year, $48-million pilot program aimed at detecting and treating HIV/AIDS faster. He says B.C. pioneered an approach, beginning in 1999, in which HIV patients were administered a combination of three drugs, which cut the transmission rate of the disease by more than 95 per cent.

New AIDS diagnoses in B.C. are down 85 per cent from the peak in 1996, mainly through a focus on treatment and education.

When the HIV/AIDS epidemic began in the 1980s, being diagnosed with the disease was tantamount to a death sentence – patients rarely lived more than a few years. But medications have been developed that allow patients to have longer and healthier lives.

Still, there is no vaccine and no cure. Those developments may yet come, but meanwhile, HIV/AIDS is highly preventable. The means of transmission – through human bodily fluids – is clearly understood. It’s a matter of taking the right precautions.

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During the Canada Post strike announced September 25, 2025, the following measures will be undertaken to minimize service disruption to BC-CfE clients and providers.

  • The BC-CfE Laboratory has transitioned to private courier for delivery of outgoing reports and documents. Results required urgently can be faxed upon request. (Lab Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8775; FAX 604-806-9463)
  • The BC-CfE Drug Treatment Program (DTP) will fax outgoing forms and documents to the provider’s office. (DTP Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8515; FAX 604-806-9044)
  • St. Paul’s Hospital Ambulatory Pharmacy has transitioned to private courier for delivery of medications. We recommend requesting medication at least 2 weeks in advance in case of delivery delays, particularly to rural/remote parts of BC. (Contact Information: Phone 1-800-547-3622; FAX 604-806-8675)

During the Canada Post strike, we recommend that documents be faxed or couriered to our sites, versus utilization of regular mail service

The BC-CfE Laboratory is streamlining reporting processes for certain tests in order to simplify distribution and record-keeping, and to ensure completeness of results. Beginning September 2, 2025, results for the ‘Resistance Analysis of HIV-1 Protease and Reverse Transcriptase’ (Protease-RT) and ‘HIV-1 Integrase Resistance Genotype’ tests will be combined into a single ‘HIV-1 Resistance Genotype Report’.
For more details and example reports, please click on the button below