I refer to the letter No test available for Aids . From the perspective of a medical student, Dr John betrays a surprising ignorance towards Aids and HIV, not simply in his insistence that HIV tests are irrelevant, but also in how HIV is diagnosed and treated.

Having not read the article he mentions, first let it be clear that HIV is merely the virus that causes the collection of symptoms called Aids, not Aids itself. Aids is a death warrant, as the patient has reached a level of such low immunity that the body can no longer cope with even simple threats like flu, and so wears away. HIV, being a virus, can be controlled in the body so as not to cause Aids, and this is where the tests come in.

Now, the most important testing methods for HIV can involve the Elisa test, or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, which detects antibodies against the HIV antigen (the molecule it contains that stimulates the production of antibodies). The Western blot test is another similar one, and the most expensive procedures involve detecting the virus RNA itself, which is done by polymerase chain reactions (PCR). Al these tests are highly sensitive and effective in diagnosing HIV, and the first two are standard in most countries.

But unlike other antibodies for other diseases, HIV antibodies detected through these tests in the patient do not mean that patient is free from them and protected from getting it again. Once the virus enters the body and multiplies to the extent that it can be detected clearly in the blood thorugh these tests, the patient has it for life. What differs is the slow descent of health, as after the initial infection there is s latent period where there are no symptoms and the body can harbour the virus for decades, before it resurfaces to cause problems for the patient, and may lead to Aids.

These tests are crucial in detecting the virus once potential HIV symptoms are apparent, as anti- retroviral treatment can then be given to prolong the patient's life and enable a good quality of health. Undiagnosed and untreated, there is no other fate than a horrible, sick death. Even though the virus can never be eliminated, and the patient will have to be treated all their life, they can function as healthy human beings with treatment. Even a marrying couple can be counselled on the risks of contracting HIV through marriage, or having children with HIV if one partner is HIV+.

These are important issues that must be discussed by the partners if they value a good healthy life for themselves and for any future children, or for anyone in their family who may be affected by them having HIV - the consequences of sickness or death from HIV on families and children can be dire. This is surely what the report John alludes to must have talked about in the benefits of pre-marital testing.

What should be the issue here is the compulsory testing of all marrying couples, only among Muslims. Nobody, I feel, has the right to force anyone to take a HIV test for something as personal a choice as marriage - this infringes basic human rights. If it was the workplace it would be very different, as the risk of any contamination to other workers is a legitimate concern to the firm and must be known. But any HIV testing for a marriage must be worked out between the partners themselves who are entering into the matrimonial bond. The state has nothing to do with it. It may provide awareness for being honest with potential life partners about having HIV, alluding to the consequences, or awareness relating to the benefits of HIV testing before marriage.

But to force it on a couple's private institution is wrong, and no person infected by their spouse can blame the state. Despite the terrible wrong committed by their infected partners in not telling them, they should have taken the precautions of knowledge before the marriage - if they didn't, their personal bilateral commitment was not treated with the respect and caution it deserved by either side.

That this testing is only compulsory for Muslims is doubly discriminatory and unfair, because (like so many issues in this confused nation, such as the Lina Joy case) it implies that Muslims live by a set of rules that are different from non-Muslims, even when they pertain to such important issues like personal freedom which are universal, and to be respected by all Malaysian citizens.

By the way, there is an investigation for Aids itself. This is the CD4 count in the blood. CD4 cells are the most important white blood cells or 'soldier cells' in the body, and it is they who are disabled and destroyed by HIV thus hampering so many immune functions of the normal human body. When the level of these cells reaches below 200 per microlitre of blood, a diagnosis of Aids, and impending death, is made.