Guideline Urges HIV Tests for All Patients aged 13 and Older
The American College of Physicians (ACP) has released a new practice guideline on Monday, stating that physicians should routinely screen all patients, aged 13 and older, for HIV.
In the U.S. alone, HIV affects more than one million, with roughly twenty-thousand new infections each year. It is spread by people that don’t know they have HIV.
“The purpose of the guideline is to present the available evidence to physicians as a way to help guide their decisions around screening for HIV in their practice,” guideline lead author Dr. Amir Qaseem, senior medical associate in ACP’s Clinical Programs and Quality of Care Department, said in a group news release. “ACP recommends that physicians adopt a routine screening policy for HIV and encourage their patients to get tested, regardless of their risk factors.”
The new guideline was released on World AIDS Day (Dec. 1).
More information
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about HIV testing.
SOURCE: American College of Physicians, news release, Dec. 1, 2008
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