Alright, this is a pretty weird question, but me and my friend were talking about marriage and eventually we got into this argument about people with AIDS getting married. According to him, he said that you needed to get a blood test before you get married to confirm you don’t have any AIDS of STDs…and if his/her partner did, they wouldn’t be allowed to be married. So basically, I just wanna ask you folks if you ever heard of required test for AIDS or STDs… and if a person with AIDS is not allowed to marry another without AIDS…THANX
I just couldn’t believe what he was saying…it sounded stupid to me.
I got married in Maine, and we didn’t need a physical nor blood test. Just IDs at the Bangor City Hall, $10, and then we just had to get married within 90 days.
I got married back in 1977, in Missouri, and my husband-to-be and I DID have to get a blood test for STDs. At that time, AIDS was not known to the general public, and I don’t think that there was a test for it. Even back then, though, there were states that didn’t require the blood test.
Marriage requirements do indeed vary by state. This table summarizes the marriage requirements (including medical testing requirements) for each U.S. State (plus DC and PR).
If you are interested in the detailed requirements for your particular state, you can post it and I’ll be glad to look them up for you.
A number of states in the South, I believe still have requirements involving blood tests. When I married in the late '80s, my wife and I had to have blood tests.
I wondered about this at the time, and I questioned a former governor friend of mine. He said that the blood tests in those states dated back to the days when intermarriage between the races was not permitted. I guess somehow blood tests were supposed to prevent such unions.
I had a blood test before I could get married in Texas in 1983, but shortly thereafter, the requirement was discontinuted specifically because the number of STD cases that they turned up was minimal. I believe that it’s been resumed now that HIV is on the scene.
Detecting STD’s is the only reason I’ve ever heard for these tests, other than the apocryphal stories about race testing, which I don’t think is even possible. What reasons are you talking about?
Other reasons could include Rh-typing (the plus or minus that appears after the letter part of your blood type). If a woman is Rh- and her partner is Rh+, there are problems they should be aware of before having children. There was a time when many adults wouldn’t know their blood type and having children before marriage was taboo, so such a test would have made sense then. Now, of course, it’s outdated, but inertia could keep such laws on the books.
We needed to get a blood test to get a marriage license - Pennsylvania, 1990.
I believe that the main purpose of the blood test is to verify that you are not marrying a close relative which could lead to birth defects as a result of the similarity of your genes.
I thought the blood test would not prevent 2 people from getting married, but only serve to inform each other of certain conditions and let them make up their own mind.
**Organism Test**
Gonorrhea Gram stain of infected material, PCR on infected material*
Chlamydia trachomatis Detection of antigens in infected tissue or PCR to detect C. trachomatis genome
Ureaplasma urealyticum Culture of infected material
Syphilis Dark field examination of infected material, blood test (VDRL,RPR,FTA)
Haemophilus ducreyi Culture of infected material
C. granulomatis Examination, culture of infected material
HIV Blood test for anti-HIV anitbody, HIV antigens, and/or HIV genome
Herpes Culture of virus from infected material, microscopic exam of infected material
Papillomavirus PCR detection of viral genome in infected material
Hepatitis B Blood test for antibodies and antigens
Trichomonas vaginalis Microscopic examination of infected material
Candida albicans Microscopic examination of infected material
*Techniques designed to detect gonococcal infection by testing of a single serum sample for antibody to N. gonorrhoeae have been limited by an inability to differentiate antibody due to past gonorrhea from antibody due to current infection and by false-positive results caused by cross-reactive antibody to N. meningitidis. For these reasons, serologic tests for gonorrhea have had a very low predictive value and are not used in clinical practice.
Anyhow, many STD’s are idenitfied primarily by clinical presentation and examination of infected material. In clinical practice, the only STD’s routinely identified by a blood test are syphilis, HIV, and Hepatitis B. To diagnose most STD’s, you gotta go to where the action is.
