Teens & HIV Test 2

Approximately 1.1 million Americans are living with HIV/AIDS, and more than 56,000 become infected with HIV every year. One-third of them are between the ages of 13 and 29. That means at least two teenagers and young adults in this country are infected with HIV every hour of every day. But many young people still do not think they are personally at risk for HIV.

When teens in the United States become infected with HIV, it usually happens in one of two ways:

1. By sharing needles used to inject drugs or other substances (including needles used for injecting steroids, tattooing, piercing, and body art). If the person who has used the needle is infected with HIV, his or her blood on the needle can infect anyone else who uses the same needle.

2. Through unprotected sex including anal, vaginal, and oral sex. This can happen when body fluids such as semen, vaginal fluids, or blood from an infected person get into the body of someone who is not infected. Everyone who has unprotected sex with an infected person is at risk of contracting HIV, but people who already have another sexually transmitted disease (STD) are even more at risk.

Children can be infected with HIV if an infected pregnant woman passes the virus to her unborn child. Treating the mother and child around the time the baby is delivered, delivering by cesarean section, and avoiding breastfeeding can reduce the baby's risk of infection.

If people with HIV get treated, they can live long, relatively healthy lives — just as people who have other chronic diseases like diabetes can. But, as with diabetes or asthma, there is still no cure for HIV and AIDS.
Pediatricians should offer routine HIV testing to adolescents at least once before they are 16 to 18 if the local prevalence of the virus is greater than 0.1%, according to a new policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

If the local community prevalence is lower, pediatricians should offer the test to all sexually active patients as well as to those with other risk factors, such as drug use, according to Patricia J. Emmanuel, MD, of the University of South Florida, and colleagues on the academy's Committee of Pediatric AIDS.

The recent introduction of rapid HIV tests makes screening less invasive, although the gold standard remains detection of HIV antibody in serum, followed by confirmatory tests with Western blot or immunofluorescent assay.

Teens & HIV Test 1

Today, many doctors only offer testing to patients they deem at risk, such as prostitutes, drug addicts and homosexual men. But since 2006, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have urged everybody older than 13 to get an HIV test regardless of risk factors in areas with many undiagnosed cases.
Making HIV testing a routine part of health care for adolescents and adults aged 13–64 years is one of the most important strategies recommended by CDC for reducing the spread of HIV.

HIV testing is also an integral part of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy to prevent the spread of HIV and improve health outcomes for those who are already infected.
State and local education agencies and schools are essential partners in this effort.

Why HIV Testing Is Important? 
More than 1 million persons in the United States are living with HIV infection; of those, many do not know they are infected. HIV usually proceeds to AIDS in the absence of treatment, but newer drugs can keep that from happening for many years. And knowing you're infected may also help stem transmission of the disease to others -- a benefit that isn't seen with cancer screening, for instance.

Learning one’s HIV infection status is an important part of prevention. Studies show that people who know they are infected are far less likely to have unprotected sex than those who do not know. Early diagnosis of HIV infection and linkage to care enable people to start treatment sooner, leading to better health outcomes and longer lives.