The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have published updated recommendations about HIV testing aimed at making voluntary screening for the virus a routine part of health care for most people. The CDC hope that these recommendations will improve on earlier guidelines, simplifying the testing process, and reduce the number of people in the U.S. who have HIV but don’t know it – a number estimated to be as high as 250,000.

Increased knowledge of individuals’ HIV status is critical to preventing the spread of AIDS and allowing for early treatment measures. Developed over three years, the new recommendations apply only to clinical health care settings and include the following:

1) HIV screening for all patients aged 13 to 64, regardless of risk; 2) completely voluntary; 3) pre-test counseling and separate, written consent should no longer be required but incorporated into general medical consent and prevention counseling encouraged; and 4) enhanced screening for pregnant women to further reduce mother-to-child transmission.

The CDC expects to publish further guidelines in 2007 in its effort to reduce the spread of HIV by increasing testing in health care settings.

Source
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Press Release. September 21, 2006. “CDC Recommends Routine, Voluntary HIV Screening in Health Care Settings.” Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/od/oc/Media/pressrel/r060921.htm