'My eight months of Aids misery'

y, January 31. 2010 I The Standard 'FEATURE 1Pagel'
'My eight months of Aids misery'
spaired. Testing HIV positive
4, I felt I had not only failed
elf but also my girlfriend and
ily- only to learn later the
lts were not true
By KENFREY KIBERENGE
Imagine walking in for voluntary
counselling and testing for
HIVand the results are positive but
eight months down the line you
learn it was a misdiagnosis,
For many it may sound like an
episode in the TVprogramme, Beyond
Chance, but it is a real experience
for one Mutunga Katia, 29,
He went for an HIVtest on February
3,2004, pending a job confirmation
and a life insurance
scheme, And for a man who, a few
months before, had tested negative,
this was simply a formality to
meet the insurer's conditions,
Mutunga had worked for three
months on probation and now before
confirmation had to take a
ABOUT RAPID TESTS
The three most used rapid
tests in Kenya are Deter-
• _".. r
Medical
experts
have raised
concerns over
credibility of
mushrooming
vcr centres.
[PHOTOS:
COURTESY]
..

mandatory melical examination.
"My father icommended I go
to the Sevenlh Day Adventist
Health ServiceJopposite Integrity
Centre, Nairobi:' says Mutunga.
After chitchat with the then
medical director at the facility, several
tests were conducted, including
HIY. "There was no pre-test
counselling," he recalls.
He was advised to pick the results
in two days. The results were
unflattering and changed his life.
"The doctor told me he had dispatched
a copy of the results to my
employer and gave me mine. I was
Hlv-positive," he says.
Again, Mutanga says, he was
not offered post-test counselling.
Though the twist of events did not
discourage him from continuing
with his job, ~. few weeks later,
things worsened.
"I noticed my workmates' attitude
towards me had changed, especially
those working in the Human
Resource and Accounts
departments," he explains. ''And in
April, I heard some talk ill of me."
CHANGE LIFESTYLE
Finally, Mutunga quit his job. "I
despaired. Contracting the incurable
disease at 24, I had not only
failed myselfbut also my girlfriend
and family," he says.
He says, he had no words to explain
it to his family and more so
his girlfriend. He chose to withhold
sex from the latter but she soon began
suspecting he was cheating on
her.
"That is when I revealed my status.
We visited a VCT for her test
and tested negative. She walked
out of the relationship:' he says.
After "losing everything" Mu-
mine. Bioline,fromSOBi()' .: .
lineof South l