U.S. Should Implement CDC HIV Testing Recommendations To Increase Treatment Access, Reduce Number of New Cases, Opinion Piece Says
Although it is a "tribute to modern medicine that we can regard HIV as a chronic, manageable condition," the "sheer burden of HIV in the U.S. means we still have an enormous public health emergency on our hands," Steven Pounders of the Baylor University Medical Center writes in a Dallas Morning News opinion piece. More than one million people are living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S., and less than half have access to treatment because an "alarming one in four of those infected does not know he or she is HIV-positive," according to Pounders. "Without delay," the U.S. should implement recommendations released last year by CDC, which say that HIV tests should be part of routine medical care for people ages 13 to 64, Pounders writes, adding that by "identifying the undiagnosed," health care providers can "link them to state-of-the-art medical care." He concludes, "This will help HIV-positive individuals lead longer, healthier lives and go a long way toward lowering the number of new infections" (Pounders, Dallas Morning News, 5/31).
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