New push for most in US to get at least one HIV test
by Lauran Neergaard
This June 27, 2012 file photo shows a patient using an oral test for HIV, inside the HIV Testing Room at the Penn Branch of the District of Columbia Department of Motor Vehicles, in southeast Washington. All Americans ages 15 to 64 should get an HIV test at least once -- not just people considered at high risk for the virus, a panel of government advisers proposed Monday. The draft guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are the latest recommendations that aim to make HIV screening simply a routine part of a check-up, something a doctor can order with as little fuss as a cholesterol test or a mammogram. Since 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also has pushed for widespread, routine HIV testing. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
There's a new push to make testing for the AIDS virus as common as cholesterol checks.
An independent panel that sets screening guidelines is proposing that Americans ages 15 to 64 get an HIV test at least once—not just people considered at high risk for the virus.
The draft guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are the latest recommendations that aim to make HIV screening simply a routine part of a check-up. Since 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also has pushed for widespread, routine HIV screening. Yet not nearly enough people have heeded that call.
CDC data suggests fewer than half of adults under 65 have been tested.
The draft proposal was released Monday.
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New push for most in US to get at least one HIV test (2012, November 19)
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