New draft recommendations from the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) were issued recently to routinely test all adolescents and adults between 15 and 65 years of age for HIV infection, as well as others who fall outside of this age range if they are at risk for infection. The recommendations also call for routine screening of all pregnant women. Project Inform applauds this significant and overdue step forward to help support the response to end the national HIV epidemic.
An estimated 50,000 people become newly infected with  HIV each year in the US. A significant portion of those individuals—one out of five people—do not know they’re HIV-positive. Additionally, a significant number of these new infections are transmitted by people who don’t know their status. Studies also show that most people—upon knowing their HIV status—modify their risk-based behaviors and further prevent new infections.
The Task Force’s “A” grade for this revision to their 2005 Recommendations falls in line with the President’s National HIV/AIDS Strategy and will encourage providers to conduct wider and more consistent screening. Many studies show that HIV testing is highly accurate and that targeted screening misses a substantial portion of new infections. The draft recommendations will help identify these undiagnosed individuals, move them into care and treatment to benefit their own health, and support a significant reduction in the rate of new infections.
“At long last, the national blueprint for ending HIV, our federal health policy and substantial clinical data have been brought into alignment,” stated Alan McCord, Director of Education. “We know that HIV treatment works, and works well. We also know that treatment prevents new infections. By testing everyone over this 5-decades age range, we can further help reduce the burden of this disease in the US by finding more people infected with HIV and get them into care. We encourage our constituents to be tested, and to encourage those they care about to be tested as well.”
However, in stark contrast to these encouraging recommendations for broader testing of HIV, the USPSTF also recently issued a grade “C” for new draft recommendations for testing baby boomers for hepatitis C. Read Project Inform’s article.
Created in 1984, the USPSTF is an independent group of prevention and medicine professionals that works to improve the health of Americans by making evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services. The group is made up of 16 volunteer members, most of whom are practicing clinicians from the fields of internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, behavioral health, obstetrics/gynecology and nursing.