CDC to Urge Routine HIV Tests For a Broad Swath of Americans
By MARILYN CHASE
The Wall Street Journal
May 8, 2006
In a sweeping revision of HIV guidelines, CDC officials say the agency also will recommend that patients no longer be required to sign separate informed-consent forms before submitting to an HIV test -- a current guideline that is law in New York and some other states. The CDC also plans to suggest eliminating or abbreviating requirements for often-lengthy pretest counseling.
The aim, CDC officials and doctors who support the changes say, is to broaden the scope and simplify the process of HIV testing to reach more infected people as early as possible. The CDC estimates that about 25% of the one million people now infected with HIV in the U.S. are unaware that they carry the virus, and may not find out until the infection progresses to the potentially lethal symptoms of AIDS. By that time, the patient could have unknowingly infected many other people
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning to recommend that doctors begin to offer voluntary HIV tests as a part of routine medical care for everyone in the U.S., ages 13 to 64, regardless of lifestyle or perceived risk for HIV.
