Dr. Clif CleavelandIn 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and several physician organizations recommended routine testing of all adults for HIV infection, and an increasing numbers of states adopted the recommendation.
The influential U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which analyzes evidence for screening for diseases, advised screening only for people with risky sexual or drug behaviors. But on March 7, the New England Journal of Medicine reported that the task force will soon advise routine screening of all adults for HIV infection.
The Affordable Care Act requires that all screening tests recommended by the task force be covered by public and private health plans without co-payments.
The implications of the new policy are huge. Persons with undiagnosed HIV infection pose a risk to their sexual partners. Young women with undiagnosed HIV infection may transmit the disease to their fetuses. These avenues for transmission will be progressively reduced, although a patient may still decline testing.
Years ago, routine testing for syphilis helped to reduce the incidence of that disease and its long-term consequences. Routine testing can achieve the same goals for HIV/AIDS.