Costa Mesa Firm Says It Will Market Home AIDS Test : Medicine: A do-it-yourself kit ‘would be a tragedy,’ says one dubious doctor. But Health Test Inc. founder says ‘HIV Home Check’ promises accurate, low-cost results.

A small Costa Mesa company said it plans to begin marketing an inexpensive, do-it-yourself AIDS test for use at home.

Called “HIV Home Check,” the product by Health Test Inc. provides an “accurate, low-cost” way for individuals to test themselves for the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS, company founder Stephen J. Coonan said Monday.

Although Coonan said the product will not require federal approval because the tests are processed in a laboratory, not at home, the federal Food and Drug Administration has objected to in-home AIDS test kits.

Some officials on Monday expressed skepticism about Health Test’s plans.

An in-home test “would be a tragedy,” said Dr. Ron Taylor, manager of HIV and sexually transmitted disease services for the Orange County Department of Public Health. “People need prevention counseling. It’s one thing to take the test, but you also need to include counseling about using condoms, cleaning needles, dangerous behavior. (An in-home test) seems like a prescription for major problems.”

Other AIDS specialists questioned the emotional distress that learning about a positive HIV test at home might prompt, without a doctor or specialist there to provide counseling.

But Health Test’s Coonan said he originally planned to have a doctor or qualified counselor telephone people who test positive. Now he said he’s considering ways to have the doctor or counselor disclose the test results in person. The professional would recommend a second test, known as a Western Blot.

Health Test said the test kit costs $24.95, and there is an additional $20 fee to have a technician come to your home and administer the test. Customers can also test themselves.

To administer the test, the person pricks a finger with a needle and collects the blood on a filter paper, then returns the dried blood sample to the company for analysis. The test is a standard blood test used in clinics.

Negative results should be mailed to the customer within a week, the company said, adding that it will send information about the need for regular testing for HIV.

The kit can be ordered through a toll-free number that Coonan plans to begin advertising today

About a dozen other companies have developed HIV test kits for sale to doctors’ offices, laboratories and clinics, said David Anast, publisher of the Biomedical Marketing Newsletter in Costa Mesa. He said he is unaware of any similar test being marketed directly to home users.

“There could be an almost unlimited market potential,” Anast said.

Indeed, demand for HIV testing has soared since basketball star Magic Johnson announced that he has tested positive for HIV. Anast said long lines at community health clinics, as well as embarrassment, have discouraged some from getting tested.

The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta said it does not keep figures on how many people are tested for AIDS. Orange County health officials tested 11,080 people in 1991.

Tim Miller, director of the AIDS Response Program in Garden Grove, which offers anonymous HIV testing, said he can’t imagine who would use an in-home test.

“I don’t see any advantage in it at all,” he said. “Why spend $25 when you can be tested free? And you don’t have to draw your own blood.” Many health clinics offer HIV testing for free or for a small donation.

Miller dismissed the possible impact of the in-home kit. “Things like this have come and gone,” he said, pointing out that private, independent HIV test clinics were once considered viable, but they lasted only a little more than a year.

Coonan, a former drug-testing contractor for the Federal Aviation Administration, said he wanted to use his testing expertise to contribute to the cause of fighting AIDS, and estimates that 100,000 people a year may use HIV Home Check.