CHARLESTON, W.Va.- West Virginia University is the latest higher education institution in the state to offer an orally administered HIV test to students that requires no blood tests or needles.

The test is administered with a cotton pad or swab that is placed between a patient’s cheek and gum for five minutes to draw antibodies from blood vessels in the mouth, health officials said.

Results of the confidential test are available within two weeks, according to WVU, which started offering the test earlier this month. WVU has tested about 20 students so far.

“What prompted it was a long-standing desire to have more HIV prevention, counseling, education and testing,” Dr. Jan Palmer, director of WVU’s Student Health Service, said Wednesday.

Fairmont State University and Glenville State College also offer the test through student health services, and Marshall University offers the test to students through the Cabell-Huntington Health Department.

“Testing for any potential HIV-infected individual is very important because of (the) severity of the illness and likelihood of prolonged care and potential death and because of the contagious nature of the infection,” said Dr. Harry Tweel, director of the Cabell-Huntington Health Department.

HIV can be transmitted through unprotected sex and shared needles, health officials have said.

The number of AIDS and HIV cases reported in West Virginia has dropped slightly since 2003.

During the first six months of this year, 65 new cases were reported in West Virginia, compared to 139 for all of 2004 and 158 in 2003, according to state health officials.

The FDA has said the orally administered test is more than 99 percent accurate.

Having HIV tests available to students on site is helpful, Glenville State spokeswoman Allison Minton said.

“I think it’s important that if a student has a concern that they have a disease that they have access to the health care that can give them answers,” Minton said.

Counseling may also be offered as part of testing services.

“We want to help them change behaviors that continue to put people at risk,” said Yolanda Kirchartz, director of student health services at Fairmont State.

That includes talking about how alcohol may affect behavior and stressing condom use and abstinence, Kirchartz said.

“Too often college students feel a false sense of security because they are young and appear to be healthy. They think, ‘It can’t happen to me,'” Palmer said “HIV affects people regardless of age, gender, race or sexual orientation.”