CDC releases report on HIV testing

WASHINGTON According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just over 40 percent of the adults in the U.S. have been screened at least once for HIV, but a quarter of a million people are infected and don’t know it, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. Also, about 10 percent of the population gets an HIV test each year—a figure that has remained stable since 2000 despite efforts to increase testing.

In September 2006, the CDC recommended that all Americans be offered HIV testing as part of their routine medical care. Last year, the agency allocated additional funds to 23 jurisdictions to test an extra 20 million people, primarily African Americans, in hopes of identifying 20,000 more HIV-positive people. About 56,300 Americans become infected with HIV each year, and 1 to 1.1 million are thought to be living with the virus.

In 2005, 38 percent of those newly diagnosed with HIV infections progressed to AIDS within a year, the report says. In addition, an HIV-positive individual who is unaware of the infection is three times as likely to transmit the virus as one who knows his or her status, CDC officials said.

The cumulative data also indicated that in 1987, only 6 percent of the population had ever been tested. In the 1990s, as many as 15 percent of Americans were tested each year, and the total who had ever been tested reached 38 percent by 2000. Since then, the total has remained stable at about 40 percent.