Journal editorial calls for widespread HIV testing

An editorial in the current edition of the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases calls for all sexually active people in the United States to be regularly screened for HIV infection, regardless of each person's perceived risk for the disease, Reuters Health reports. By screening all Americans who are having sex, HIV infections would be detected while in their earliest and most treatable stages, and it would help prevent the spread of the virus from those who are unaware they are infected with it. AIDS experts currently believe that about one third of the estimated 1 million Americans who are infected with HIV do not know they carry the virus. Editorial authors Curt G. Beckwith from Brown Medical School and colleagues from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Emory University School of Medicine say pre-test counseling should be streamlined and rapid HIV antibody tests should be given to help ease time constraints that prevent many physicians from routinely offering the tests.