The American College of Physicians (ACP) has issued a practice guideline recommending that doctors should routinely screen all patients over the age of 13 for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), according to an article in the November 30, 2008 early release issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine .

 The ACP developed this new guidance statement to present the currently available evidence on HIV screening in health care settings. Unlike the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) guidelines which recommend HIV screening only in high-risk groups and health care settings, the ACP guidelines recommend HIV screening for all patients who are over 13 years of age in all health care settings, based in part on evidence that an estimated 10 to 25% of people testing positive for HIV reported no high-risk behaviors. The ACP further recommends that physicians encourage their patients to be tested for HIV and determine the appropriate intervals for re-screening.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 1 million to 1.18 million people in the United States are living with HIV. Of these people, approximately 24% to 27% are not aware of their infection and have undiagnosed disease. In addition, nearly half of patients who are diagnosed with HIV are not diagnosed until late in the course of the disease, when medications are not as effective. Routine HIV screening would help not only in identifying patients with undiagnosed HIV, but also in providing early treatment and preventing transmission of the infection.

Source

American College of Physicians press release, December 1, 2008.