SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – A pharmacy chain is offering free HIV testing on June 27, when tests will be available for customers at more than 400 locations across the nation.

Walgreens has partnered with the Kaiser Family Foundation to give anyone who wants to know their HIV status a free HIV test.

The Centers for Disease Control recommends that adults be tested at least once a year, but the majority of adults below age 64 have never been tested for HIV. One out of every eight people who have HIV in the United States are not aware they have it.

The CDC says you can take medicine to treat the virus if you know you have it. If you know that you don’t have HIV, you can take precautions to prevent HIV.

It’s important to get an HIV test before you have sex with a new partner.

Risk factors for HIV include having sex with someone whose sexual history you don’t know, being treated for hepatitis or tuberculosis in the past, being diagnosed with or treated for a different sexually transmitted disease, swapping sex for drugs or money, sharing paraphernalia for injecting drugs with others, having sex with more than one partner since your last HIV test, having sex with someone who has HIV, having sex with a man if you are a man.

Pregnant women who test positive for HIV can receive a treatment known to lower the chances of the baby being born with HIV.

The CDC recommends that people between the ages of 13 and 64 get tested.

The free testing event will take place on June 27, when you can receive free and confidential HIV tests when visiting a local Walgreens pharmacy.

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