Beyond the end of exceptionalism: integrating HIV testing into routine medical care and HIV prevention

Abstract

In September 2006, the US CDC issued new guidelines for HIV testing. These guidelines were designed not only to simplify and expand HIV testing but also to integrate testing into routine medical care in the USA. The nationwide implementation of these guidelines is currently facing several political and legal barriers. In this article, we examine the origins of current patient-driven and risk-based HIV testing in the USA and highlight shortcomings of this strategy. We then demonstrate how the changing HIV epidemic in the USA requires routine HIV screening at all points of contact in the medical system in order to control the HIV epidemic and how novel testing strategies could increase the yield of testing in these settings.

Keywords::

• acute HIV infection
• HIV exceptionalism
• HIV testing
• routine HIV screening

Financial disclosure

This project was supported in part by the California HIV/AIDS Research Program (CHRP) CHO5-SMCHC-612 and the San Francisco Department of Public Health.