The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued recommendations Sept. 21 urging all individuals aged 13-64 to incorporate HIV testing into routine medical care. Such periodic testing, according to the CDC, would help detect HIV infections earlier, permitting people to benefit from earlier access to treatment and minimizing the risks of infecting partners. The CDC also advises the elimination of separate written consent and prevention counseling prior to the tests, which act as barriers to testing. A patient's general consent for medical care would be sufficient. Still, these barriers are written into many state laws and their removal would take years. In light of this and other factors, The Miami Student urges states to adopt laws that would eliminate barriers to testing and pave the way toward more routine HIV testing for all individuals.
The CDC recommendations come at a time when nearly a quarter of Americans infected with HIV, some 250,000 people, do not know they have the disease. Additionally, 42 percent of those who test positive only submit to the test due after the development of symptoms indicating AIDS, which means they may have had the disease and been passing it on for years. It is critical then, that regular HIV testing be implemented as other routine blood work tests are - without specific, written consent or lengthy counseling prior to the test - so as to decrease the time and number of barriers associated with submitting to an HIV test.
Many civil liberties groups are worried, though, that the elimination of such barriers will lead to HIV testing being handled without much regard to the emotional well-being of an HIV-positive person. While this and similar concerns are valid, the CDC has articulated the need to "identify and counsel persons with unrecognized HIV infection and link them to clinical and prevention services" after a positive result is obtained. Also, separate written consent and prevention counseling were put into practice at a time when positive identification of HIV was a certain death sentence. Now, however, there are treatments that aid the quality and length of life for an HIV-positive person.
The risks associated with HIV infection and the benefits of regular testing far outweigh the benefits of separate written consent and counseling before testing. Therefore, The Miami Student stands by the CDC recommendations and urges states to eliminate barriers to testing within existing laws.
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